Re:Vertical Farming Has Found Its Fatal Flaw
by chongli on Friday December 30, 2022 @03:39AM
(#34183164)
Solar energy is only one factor in the equation. Another one is water. Indoor farming lets you get your energy and water from different places. This is potentially a breakthrough because of the relative difficulty of moving large quantities of water around (not to mention food destined for market) compared to electricity.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Vertical Farming Has Found Its Fatal Flaw
by imtringued on Friday December 30, 2022 @04:43AM
(#34183526)
But in this scenario you just want a greenhouse that recirculates water but you still don't want to stack your plants to take advantage of natural light.
Re:Vertical Farming Has Found Its Fatal Flaw
by chongli on Friday December 30, 2022 @07:55AM
(#34184565)
Whenever you harvest the fruits and veggies you take water out of the system. You also lose water due to evaporation and people coming/going from the greenhouse. So while you may be a lot more water efficient in a greenhouse you're still a consumer of water.
Furthermore, I am thinking of places like Canada (where I live) that get very little sunlight in the winter, despite having incredible abundance of fresh water. We could grow a lot of vegetables in the winter and power the artificial lighting using wind, hydroelectricity, or nuclear. This would allow us to avoid importing so many vegetables from California or Mexico.