Comments on: What Is “Vertical Farming” And Is It Better For The Environment? http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2009/11/29/what-is-%e2%80%9cvertical-farming%e2%80%9d-and-is-it-better-for-the-environment/ Sustainability, Environment, Progressive Politics, Peak Oil, Being Green. Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:16:11 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Canada Guy http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2009/11/29/what-is-%e2%80%9cvertical-farming%e2%80%9d-and-is-it-better-for-the-environment/comment-page-1/#comment-22637 Canada Guy Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:02:12 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=2637#comment-22637 Vertical farming is really a joke proposal. It would require massive amounts of energy to build a vertical farm, and even the daily operation would use more energy than you would save from transportation food shorter distances. This means a vertical farm would generate large amount of net carbon and contribute to global warming. It would also be much less resilient in the face of energy shortages or peak oil. However, that's not to say that growing more food in urban areas isn't a good idea. Growing food on lawns and building community gardens are both great idea. Vertical farming is really a joke proposal. It would require massive amounts of energy to build a vertical farm, and even the daily operation would use more energy than you would save from transportation food shorter distances. This means a vertical farm would generate large amount of net carbon and contribute to global warming. It would also be much less resilient in the face of energy shortages or peak oil. However, that’s not to say that growing more food in urban areas isn’t a good idea. Growing food on lawns and building community gardens are both great idea.

]]> By: Michael Mark http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2009/11/29/what-is-%e2%80%9cvertical-farming%e2%80%9d-and-is-it-better-for-the-environment/comment-page-1/#comment-22501 Michael Mark Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:57:34 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=2637#comment-22501 An interesting analysis would be: how does on-site energy consumption for lighting, air purification, pumping water up a median 15 stories (+/-), and delivery of nutrient fertilizers to a vertical farm compare to energy consumed in food transport... Wind, tidal, solar, etc. would be fleeting resources on compact sites, so I don't see these forming a major supply. Nature's biological density largely reflects the available density of these resources. On-site biomass incinerators may not be ideal w/respect to maintaining closed, recirculating nutrient cycles. And lastly, a department store of monocultures seems foreign to what works on this planet. A wrinkle on the theme: look at multi-story polycultures integrated with fish, animals, etc., that are net generators of water as well as food, through nested nutrient and energy cycles that require minimal outside inputs, based on science of the organism. http://is.gd/56PPK An interesting analysis would be: how does on-site energy consumption for lighting, air purification, pumping water up a median 15 stories (+/-), and delivery of nutrient fertilizers to a vertical farm compare to energy consumed in food transport…

Wind, tidal, solar, etc. would be fleeting resources on compact sites, so I don’t see these forming a major supply. Nature’s biological density largely reflects the available density of these resources.

On-site biomass incinerators may not be ideal w/respect to maintaining closed, recirculating nutrient cycles. And lastly, a department store of monocultures seems foreign to what works on this planet.

A wrinkle on the theme: look at multi-story polycultures integrated with fish, animals, etc., that are net generators of water as well as food, through nested nutrient and energy cycles that require minimal outside inputs, based on science of the organism.

http://is.gd/56PPK

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