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A comment on Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself? by Aerbil313 on Sunday April 30, 2023 @03:51PM (#35766016)
Thank you very much! I'll start building a Biosphere 2-like [1] system for climate and weather independent food production later this year inshaAllah. So I'm interested in such projects. I also want to open-source mine because I can't see how I can accomplish it all by myself.

Input: sunlight and (optionally, if not contaminated by nuclear fallout) air. Output: meat, dairy and crops.

> I have an older iteration of the system working in an outdoor greenhouse without artificial lighting.

I think this should be possible with such a system, with full composting (including every biological waste, even human excrement), air-to-water devices, underground temperature and solar utilizing temperature control system and many more things, all in one massive greenhouse. I don't think hydroponics is the answer as it is highly fragile (system exists in sensitive equilibrum) or require chemicals (requiring global supply chain) or depend on complicated tech (many failure vectors).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself? by steve_adams_86 on Sunday April 30, 2023 @11:51PM (#35768924)
You’re absolutely right — hydroponics is a dead end if you’re mostly or entirely off grid with no supply chain.

I’m very interested in soil-based gardening and cyclical systems too, but I don’t have enough space to really experiment. However, if I did have the space, I’d love to explore an aquaponic system in a large enclosed area. Perhaps a large geodesic dome partly dug into the earth to help stabilize temperature. The ability to generate a nutrient solution from a biological system is absolutely inedible to me.

Thanks for the link to Biosphere 2, this is really interesting.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself? by Aerbil313 on Monday May 01, 2023 @11:35AM (#35774299)
Thanks for the confirmation on hydroponics. On human manure, Humanure Handbook: https://humanurehandbook.com/
[ Parent | on HN ]