Vertical Farming notes

A couple of brief notes I've jotted down about it

Vertical Farming Feasibility Study

• Use solar mirrors to redirect sunlight—use of artificial lights should be sparse, closed system cannot violate 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
• Use cascading, rather than stacked system of palates (which hold the plants)—strike a balance where sun hitting surface area and plant volume is maximized. Stacking would be the most efficient in terms of sheer volume of plants, however, this would not be the best method for maximizing sun exposure.
• Despommier, with current technology, says one vertical farm occupying one block and rising 30 stories could feed anywhere between 10000 and 50000 people.
• Scale up hydroponic and aeroponic growing methods
• Advantages of system versus traditional growing methods
o Continuous crop production
o Mitigate weather related crop failures
o Reduction of farmland usage
o Reduction in food transportation costs
o Reduces need for pesticide, herbicide, and fertilizer
• Would be organically produced
o Water recycling through transpiration
o As more people move to urban centers, food will be, per capita, further away from people
o Use methane producing bacteria to feed off organic wastes
o Developed countries with capital
• Place just outside urban centers so there would be less light blocking from other buildings
o Build “forest” of vertical farms outside city limits
• True cost of what we eat becoming important meme
• 70% of all water used by humans goes into food production
• Political climate and demographic trends GOOD for this
o Green jobs
o Infrastructure building
o Make food supply chain safer