Little Leaf Farms Raises $90M to Grow Its Greenhouse Network

by Jennifer Marston

Image from: Little Leaf Farms

Massachusetts-based Little Leaf Farms has raised $90 million in a debt and equity financing round to expand its network of hydroponic greenhouses on the East Coast. The round was led by Equilibrium Capital as well as founding investors Bill Helman and Pilot House Associates. Bank of America also participated.

Little Leaf Farms says the capital is “earmarked” to build new greenhouse sites along the East Coast, where its lettuce is currently available in about 2,500 stores. 

The company already operates one 10-acre greenhouse in Devins, Massachusetts. Its facility grows leafy greens using hydroponics and a mixture of sunlight supplemented by LED-powered grow lights. Rainwater captured from the facility’s roof provides most of the water used on the farm. 

According to a press release, Little Leaf Farms has doubled its retail sales to $38 million since 2019. And last year, the company bought180 acres of land in Pennsylvania on which to build an additional facility. Still another greenhouse, slated for North Carolina, will serve the Southeast region of the U.S. 

Little Leaf Farms joins the likes of Revol Greens, Gotham Greens, AppHarvest, and others in bringing local(ish) greens to a greater percentage of the population. These facilities generally pack and ship their greens on the day of or day after harvesting, and only supply retailers within a certain radius. Little Leaf Farms, for example, currently servers only parts of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. 

The list of regions the company serves will no doubt lengthen as the company builds up its greenhouse network in the coming months.

Bringing The Future To life In Abu Dhabi

Amid the deserts of Abu Dhabi, a new wave of entrepreneurs and innovators are sowing the seeds of a more sustainable future.

Image from: Wired

A cluster of shipping containers in a city centre is about the last place you’d expect to find salad growing. Yet for the past year, vertical farming startup Madar Farms has been using this site in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, to grow leafy green vegetables using 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture. 

Madar Farms is one of a number of agtech startups benefitting from a package of incentives from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) aimed at spurring the development of innovative solutions for sustainable desert farming. The partnership is part of ADIO’s $545 million Innovation Programme dedicated to supporting companies in high-growth areas.

“Abu Dhabi is pressing ahead with our mission to ‘turn the desert green’,” explained H.E. Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General of ADIO, in November 2020. “We have created an environment where innovative ideas can flourish and the companies we partnered with earlier this year are already propelling the growth of Abu Dhabi’s 24,000 farms.”

The pandemic has made food supply a critical concern across the entire world, combined with the effects of population growth and climate change, which are stretching the capacity of less efficient traditional farming methods. Abu Dhabi’s pioneering efforts to drive agricultural innovation have been gathering pace and look set to produce cutting-edge solutions addressing food security challenges.

Beyond work supporting the application of novel agricultural technologies, Abu Dhabi is also investing in foundational research and development to tackle this growing problem. 

In December, the emirate’s recently created Advanced Technology Research Council [ATRC], responsible for defining Abu Dhabi’s R&D strategy and establishing the emirate and the wider UAE as a desired home for advanced technology talent, announced a four-year competition with a $15 million prize for food security research. Launched through ATRC’s project management arm, ASPIRE, in partnership with the XPRIZE Foundation, the award will support the development of environmentally-friendly protein alternatives with the aim to "feed the next billion".

Image from: Madar Farms

Global Challenges, Local Solutions

Food security is far from the only global challenge on the emirate’s R&D menu. In November 2020, the ATRC announced the launch of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), created to support applied research on the key priorities of quantum research, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems.

“The technologies under development at TII are not randomly selected,” explains the centre’s secretary general Faisal Al Bannai. “This research will complement fields that are of national importance. Quantum technologies and cryptography are crucial for protecting critical infrastructure, for example, while directed energy research has use-cases in healthcare. But beyond this, the technologies and research of TII will have global impact.”

Future research directions will be developed by the ATRC’s ASPIRE pillar, in collaboration with stakeholders from across a diverse range of industry sectors.

“ASPIRE defines the problem, sets milestones, and monitors the progress of the projects,” Al Bannai says. “It will also make impactful decisions related to the selection of research partners and the allocation of funding, to ensure that their R&D priorities align with Abu Dhabi and the UAE's broader development goals.”

Image from: Agritecture

Nurturing Next-Generation Talent

To address these challenges, ATRC’s first initiative is a talent development programme, NexTech, which has begun the recruitment of 125 local researchers, who will work across 31 projects in collaboration with 23 world-leading research centres.

Alongside universities and research institutes from across the US, the UK, Europe and South America, these partners include Abu Dhabi’s own Khalifa University, and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the world’s first graduate-level institute focused on artificial intelligence. 

“Our aim is to up skill the researchers by allowing them to work across various disciplines in collaboration with world-renowned experts,” Al Bannai says. 

Beyond academic collaborators, TII is also working with a number of industry partners, such as hyperloop technology company, Virgin Hyperloop. Such industry collaborations, Al Bannai points out, are essential to ensuring that TII research directly tackles relevant problems and has a smooth path to commercial impact in order to fuel job creation across the UAE.

“By engaging with top global talent, universities and research institutions and industry players, TII connects an intellectual community,” he says. “This reinforces Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a global hub for innovation and contributes to the broader development of the knowledge-based economy.”

UNFI Picks Up Living Greens Farm Products in Midwest Expansion

I|mage from: Living Green Farms

Living Greens Farm (LGF), the largest vertical, indoor aeroponic farm in the US that provides year-round fresh salads, salad kits, microgreens and herbs, announced the addition of significant new retail distribution of its products in the upper Midwest to independent, specialty, and co-op retailers.

Starting February 2021, LGF’s full line of products featuring ready-to-eat bagged salad products (Caesar Salad Kit, Southwest Salad Kit, Harvest Salad Kit, Chopped Romaine, and Chopped Butter Lettuce) will be carried by UNFI Produce Prescott (formerly Alberts Fresh Produce). UNFI Produce Prescott is a division of UNFI, which distributes food products to thousands of stores nationwide. Their focus is on independent, specialty and co-op retailers.

UNFI has eight warehouses nationwide. LGF’s products will be carried by their upper Midwest location, located just across the river from the Twin Cities in Prescott, WI. This distribution center services hundreds of retailers throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. UNFI is the first national Certified Organic distributor, something they take a lot of pride in. Their produce and floral businesses are rooted in local farms and seasonal import growers.

LGF’s proprietary vertical indoor farming method yields the highest quality and freshest produce available. This is because there are no pesticides or chemicals used in the growing process. And because LGF’s growing, cleaning and bagging process significantly reduces handling and time to the retail shelf, consumers enjoy the freshest product on the market. These benefits continue to attract new users and new retail distribution as UNFI Produce Prescott is the second UNFI location to carry LGF. In December, UNFI’s Hopkins, MN location began offering LGF products.

For more information on why Living Greens Farm products are the cleanest, freshest and healthiest farm salads and greens available, go to www.livinggreensfarm.com.

Farm In A Box Planned For Bridgeport's East End

Image from: CT Post

BRIDGEPORT — You will not find any vast acres of fertile soil and crops in the East End neighbourhood. So the state, city and area activists have teamed with an entrepreneur on what they all said they believe is the next best thing: farmland in a box.

Joe Alvarez, founder of High Ridge Hydroponics of Ridgefield, describes it on his website as “an indoor, vertical, hydroponic, shipping container farm to be located in the most urban settings throughout the world.” And the East End — which has been labeled a “food desert” because of the lack of fresh edibles easily available to residents there — will be that urban setting.

“We’re very excited about this,” Keith Williams, head of the East End Neighborhood Revitalization Zone community group, said during a teleconference Friday announcing a $49,999 state grant for Alvarez’s project. “Fresh vegetables. Healthy. That’s what we’re all about — healthy eating.”

High Ridge’s container will produce young micro-greens from broccoli, kale, cabbage, arugula and other plants to be sold at the East End NRZ’s market as a salad mix.

“These greens are harvested after only 10 to 14 days from being planted, which is extremely quick (and) they are super concentrated in nutrition,” Alvarez said.

Friday’s teleconference included several dignitaries who pledged to do everything they can to ensure High Ridge’s success in town, including Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, state Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt, state Sen. Marilyn Moore, state Rep. Andre Baker, Mayor Joe Ganim and Edward Lavernoich of the Bridgeport Economic Development Corporation.

“I hope this project has a lasting and positive impact on your community,” Bysiewicz said. “And I hope it will become a model for other urban areas in our state to grow their own food using innovative technology and techniques.”

“This is not just a shipping container in the city,” Hurlburt said. “This is a much larger, deeper and richer project that we get to celebrate today.”

State Rep. Joe Gresko, D-Stratford, was also included, but wearing a different hat. Gresko works for Ganim continuing a mission started by former Mayor Bill Finch to turn Bridgeport from an ex-manufacturing hub into a leader in the green and environmentally sustainable economy.

It was under Finch that the East End was previously promised an urban green house on the site of the former “Mt. Trashmore” illegal dump. That project, dubbed “Boot Camp Farms” because it would hire veterans, was announced in 2013 and was also supposed to have financial backing from the state. But the developers had no prior experience in that field and the proposal never broke ground.

Alvarez, according to his online biography, “studied environmental science at Fordham University in New York City, graduated in May of 2017 (and) has worked as a private organic gardener, an aquaponic farmer, built greenhouses, maintained greenhouses and designed several custom hydroponic growing systems.”

Hurlburt said he felt confident the new project would be a success.

Alvarez “has limited experience but he knows what he’s doing. ... I know how much Joe was calling us and emailing us and how badly he wanted this grant to make it a reality. I know his heart is right where it needs to be to make it a success.”

“We’re all in this together to make sure Joe has the support he needs to be successful,” Hurlburt emphasized.

There are still important details to be finalized, including getting a site for the shipping container and additional money to cover the full, nearly $150,000 cost. Gresko said that the NRZ was negotiating to use some property and that “when the time comes” Bridgeport will “match” additional private funds Alvarez obtains.

“We’re going to keep an eye on this and troubleshoot as we go forward any issues,” Gresko said.

Alvarez said he hopes to complete construction by the fall. And the colder months are when his crops will be the most needed, said Deborah Sims, who operates the NRZ market.

“After farmer’s market season is over, we have difficulty sourcing (fresh food),” Sims said.

“Three hundred sixty five (days) we’re going to have the greens available,” said Gresko.

Baker recalled how his East End funeral home has hosted some farmer’s markets and called the High Ridge project “a long time coming.” He also told Bysiewicz he hoped similar initiatives to offer more fresh food to his constituents will follow.

“Lieutenant governor, we’re going to be leaning on you and the governor for more support,” he said. “You’re going to hear more from us.”

Is AppHarvest the Future of Farming?

Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, are red-hot right now, with investors clamoring to get into promising young companies.

In this video from Motley Fool Live, recorded on Jan. 28, Industry Focus host Nick Sciple and Motley Fool contributor Lou Whiteman discuss AppHarvest, one such SPAC that is looking to disrupt the agriculture industry. Here are the details on what AppHarvest wants to do, and a look at whether the company represents the future of farming.

Nick Sciple: One last company I wanted to talk about, Lou, and this is one I think it's -- you pay attention to, but not one I'm super excited to run in and buy. It was a company called AppHarvest. It's coming public via a [SPAC] this year. This vertical farming space. We talked about Gladstone Land buying traditional farmland. AppHarvest is taking a very different approach, trying to lean into some of the ESG-type movements.

Lou Whiteman: Yeah. Let's look at this. It probably wouldn't surprise you that the U.S. is the biggest global farm exporter as we said, but it might surprise you that the Netherlands, the tiny little country, is No. 2. The way they do that is tech: Greenhouse farm structure. AppHarvest has taken that model and brought it to the U.S. They have, I believe, three farms in Appalachia. The pitches can produce 30x the yields using 90% less water. Right now, it's mostly tomatoes and it is early-stage. I don't own this stock either. I love this idea. There's some reasons that I'm not buying in right now that we can get into. But this is fascinating to me. We talked about making the world a better place. This is the company that we need to be successful to make the world a better place. The warning on it is that it is a SPAC. So it's not public yet. Right now, I believe N-O-V-S. That deal should close soon. [Editor's note: The deal has since closed.] I'm not the only one excited about it. I tend not to like to buy IPOs and new companies anyway. I think the caution around buying into the excitement applies here. There is a Martha Stewart video on their website talking up the company, which I love Martha Stewart, but that's a hype level that makes me want to just watch and see what they produce. This is just three little farms in Appalachia right now and a great idea. This was all over my watchlist. I would imagine I would love to hold it at some point, but just be careful because this is, as we saw SPACs last year in other areas, people are very excited about this.

Sciple: Yeah. I think, like we've said, for a lot of these companies, the prospects are great. I think when you look at the reduced water usage, better, environmentally friendly, all those sorts of things. I like that they are in Appalachia. As someone who is from the South, I like it when more rural areas get some people actually investing money there. But again, there's a lot of execution between now and really getting to a place where this is the future of farming and they're going to reach scale and all those sorts of things. But this is a company I'm definitely going to have my radar on and pay attention to as they continue to report earnings. Because you can tell yourself a story about how this type of vertical farming, indoor farming disrupts this traditional model, can be more efficient, cleaner, etc. Something to continue paying attention to as we have more information, because this company, like you said, Lou, isn't all the way public yet. We still got to have this SPAC deal finalized and then we get all our fun SEC filings and quarterly calls and all those sorts of things. Once we have that, I will be very much looking forward to seeing what the company has to say.

Whiteman: Right. Just to finish up along too, the interesting thing here is that it is a proven concept because it has worked elsewhere. The downside of that is that it needed to work there. Netherlands just doesn't have -- and this is an expensive proposition to get started, to get going. There's potential there, but in a country blessed with almost seemingly unlimited farmland for now, for long term it makes sense. But in the short term, it could be a hard thing to really get up and running. I think you're right, just one to watch.

President Biden & The Future of Regenerative Agriculture In The US

View fullsize

February 5, 2021

Steve Groff

Editor’s note: Steve Groff is a farmer, a regenerative agriculture consultant, and the founder of Cover Crop Coaching, which educates farmers and farm advisors about effective cover crop use. The views expressed in this guest article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of AFN.

With a new administration in Washington, the next few years could be interesting for efforts to improve agriculture production while addressing environmental issues at the same time.

President Joe Biden has expressed support for climate-friendly farming practices, but there are questions about what that ultimately will mean. Will helping American farms be a high priority for the new president or will it get lost amid other pressing concerns, including the Covid-19 pandemic? And just how open is a good portion of the agriculture community to the government getting involved in what they do?

Among other proposals, Biden has vowed to pursue policies that would expand and fortify the federal Conservation Stewardship Program. One desired result of this effort would be to make more money available for payments to farmers who reduce their carbon footprint through a variety of methods, including the use of cover crops.

While the big-business side of agriculture has been more willing to use government programs, grassroots farmers involved in regenerative agriculture tend to be leery of government programs and handouts. Most of them, in fact, suggest getting out of government-related programs – particularly the use of crop insurance.

Invest with Impact. Click here.

Those in the regenerative agriculture movement come from the perspective that we have ruined the resiliency of our soils and if we ‘regenerate’ them, they can better handle weather extremes brought on by climate change.

But one challenge for the regenerative agriculture movement is getting farmers educated on how to use these practices. That is a huge reason why I wrote my book, The Future Proof Farm. I wanted not only to educate but to inspire farmers to take their first step in that direction.

I firmly believe regenerative agriculture is scalable, as we now have large farms with thousands of acres that are successfully using these practices with little to no inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides.

And yes, most of those farms are doing it with no government help.

But on the other side are farmers drooling over the potential to get paid to use cover crops, no-till, and other soil health practices that can sequester carbon. Farmers are primed like never before to try those practices due to rising awareness over the past 20 years or so. In any business, it’s ‘all about the money’ – so if a farmer can get paid to engage in a good practice, it’s a favorable thing in their minds.

How do farmers feel about cover crops? We asked a cover crop coach – read more here

I am biased toward letting the market work, as we know there is a demand for food and fiber grown using regenerative agriculture – and we can accomplish what we need to without government help. With regenerative agriculture, we can lower our costs of production.

That being said, there are not enough resources to help farmers learn these methods. I believe we have an education hurdle – not a need for another handout. I also believe we need to take a deeper look at how regenerative agriculture actually leads to a more nutritious or nutrient-dense food product, whether it is fed to livestock or ends up on the kitchen table.

I do see some merit in the government helping farmers for a few years to get started in these carbon-sequestering practices, but more important are educational efforts to help farmers be effective in using those practices. The old adage applies: give a person a fish and you will be giving them fish for a lifetime; teach each person to fish, and they will meet their own needs for a lifetime.

If the Biden administration can somehow capture a holistic approach by supporting the education necessary for farmers to grow healthy food, it will be a win for producers, a win for the people, and a win for the planet.

Google Just Made The Largest Ever Corporate Purchase of Renewable Energy

View fullsize

09.19.19

BY ADELE PETERS

Two years ago, Google became the first company of its size to buy as much renewable electricity as the electricity it used. But as the company grows, so does its demand for power. To stay ahead of that demand, Google just made the largest corporate renewable energy purchase in history, with 18 new energy deals around the world that will help build infrastructure worth more than $2 billion.

View fullsize

[Photo: courtesy Google]

The projects include massive new solar farms in places like Texas and North Carolina where the company has data centers. “Bringing incremental renewable energy to the grids where we consume energy is a critical component of pursuing 24×7 carbon-free energy for all of our operations,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post today. While most of the renewable energy the company has purchased in the past has come from wind farms, the dropping cost of solar power means that several of the new deals are solar plants. In Chile, a new project combines both wind and solar power, making it possible to generate clean energy for longer each day.

The package of new projects will supply a total of 1,600 megawatts of electricity, bringing Google’s total renewable portfolio to 5,500 megawatts—the equivalent of a million roofs covered in solar panels. Pichai writes that the company’s clean energy projects will be able to produce more electricity than is used by the city of Washington, D.C., or the entire country of Lithuania.

Device Recycles Waste Heat Into Light To Boost Solar Systems

View fullsize

JULY 16TH, 2019

BY MIKE WILLIAMS-RICE

RICE UNIVERSITY

Arrays of aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes could channel wasted heat and greatly raise the efficiency of solar energy systems, report researchers.

The new invention is a hyperbolic thermal emitter that can absorb intense heat that would otherwise spew into the atmosphere, squeeze it into a narrow bandwidth, and emit it as light that can be turned into electricity.

The discovery rests on another that Junichiro Kono’s group at the Brown School of Engineering at Rice University made in 2016 when it found a simple method to make highly aligned, wafer-scale films of closely packed nanotubes.

View fullsize

A scanning electron microscope image shows submicron-scale cavities patterned into films of aligned carbon nanotubes. The cavities trap thermal photons and narrow their bandwidth, turning them into light that can then be recycled as electricity. (Credit: Naik Lab)

WASTE HEAT

Discussions with Gururaj Naik, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, led the pair to see if the films could be used to direct “thermal photons.”

“Thermal photons are just photons emitted from a hot body,” Kono says. “If you look at something hot with an infrared camera, you see it glow. The camera is capturing these thermally excited photons.”

ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF OUR INDUSTRIAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION IS WASTE HEAT. THAT’S ABOUT THREE YEARS OF ELECTRICITY JUST FOR THE STATE OF TEXAS.

Infrared radiation is a component of sunlight that delivers heat to the planet, but it’s only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

“Any hot surface emits light as thermal radiation,” Naik says. “The problem is that thermal radiation is broadband, while the conversion of light to electricity is efficient only if the emission is in a narrow band. The challenge was to squeeze broadband photons into a narrow band.”

The nanotube films presented an opportunity to isolate mid-infrared photons that would otherwise be wasted. “That’s the motivation,” Naik says. “A study by [co-lead author and graduate student] Chloe Doiron found that about 20 percent of our industrial energy consumption is waste heat. That’s about three years of electricity just for the state of Texas. That’s a lot of energy being wasted.

CARBON NANOTUBES CAN TAKE THE HEAT

“The most efficient way to turn heat into electricity now is to use turbines, and steam or some other liquid to drive them,” he says. “They can give you nearly 50 percent conversion efficiency. Nothing else gets us close to that, but those systems are not easy to implement.” Naik and his colleagues aim to simplify the task with a compact system that has no moving parts.

The aligned nanotube films are conduits that absorb waste heat and turn it into narrow-bandwidth photons. Because electrons in nanotubes can only travel in one direction, the aligned films are metallic in that direction while insulating in the perpendicular direction, an effect Naik called hyperbolic dispersion. Thermal photons can strike the film from any direction, but can only leave via one.

“Instead of going from heat directly to electricity, we go from heat to light to electricity,” Naik says. “It seems like two stages would be more efficient than three, but here, that’s not the case.”

Naik says adding the emitters to standard solar cells could boost their efficiency from the current peak of about 22 percent. “By squeezing all the wasted thermal energy into a small spectral region, we can turn it into electricity very efficiently,” he says. “The theoretical prediction is that we can get 80 percent efficiency.”

Nanotube films suit the task because they stand up to temperatures as high as 1,700 degrees Celsius (3,092 degrees Fahrenheit). Naik’s team built proof-of-concept devices that allowed them to operate at up to 700 C (1,292 F) and confirm their narrow-band output. To make them, the team patterned arrays of submicron-scale cavities into the chip-sized films.

“There’s an array of such resonators, and each one of them emits thermal photons in just this narrow spectral window,” Naik says. “We aim to collect them using a photovoltaic cell and convert it to energy, and show that we can do it with high efficiency.”

A paper on the technology appears in ACS Photonics. The Basic Energy Science program of the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Robert A. Welch Foundation supported the research.

Source: Rice University

Lead Photo: (Credit: James Moran/Flickr)

Original Study DOI: acsphotonics.9b00452

TAGS

• ELECTRICITY

• LIGHT

• NANOTECHNOLOGY

• RENEWABLE ENERGY

• TEMPERATURE

Swiss Retail Migros: "All Greenhouses To Be Heated Fossil-Free By 2025"

Retailer Migros is serious: From 2025 onwards, the greenhouses supplying the Swiss retail chain are only to be heated with renewable energy. "With this pioneering work, Migros and its producers are showing that it is possible to phase out heating oil and fossil gas," said WWF CEO Thomas Vellacott earlier this year. "We need this kind of joint effort to meet the Paris Climate Agreement and curb climate change, which sets an example for Migros - also for other sectors." 

Nowadays, the greenhouses are mostly heated by oil or natural gas. An estimated 100 companies supply the various cooperatives of Migros throughout Switzerland. "In the future, every company should use the optimum mix of renewable energy sources for its location", Migros explained. "Heat pumps, wood heaters, bio-gas, geothermal energy and solar energy are in the foreground."

Heating swiss horticulture
Greenhouses are heated especially at the beginning and end of the Swiss season to extend the domestic season. Since most growers have improved the insulation and energy use of their greenhouses in recent years, they have reduced their emissions. Nevertheless, greenhouse production continues to be one of the most carbon intensive sectors in Switzerland. "With annual savings of up to 75,000 tonnes of CO2 thanks to the use of renewable-heated greenhouses, regional production in cultivation is significantly strengthened", 

The schedule to heat all greenhouses from 2025 fossil-free is ambitious. For this reason, the conversion takes place in close cooperation between Migros and the producers. Migros invests one million francs a year in the project. "With the money producers are financially supported in the conversion. In addition, thanks to clear commitments  regarding the future scope of supply, producers are given planning certainty. Migros welcomes the commitment of all those involved to work together for a climate-friendly future", the retailer explained. 

These energy changes in the glasshouses, however, have their price. There is a rumbling in the vegetable industry. Nobody wants to comment publicly, but behind the scenes, the very short deadline that the largest retailer in the country poses to its producers is being criticized, says SRF.ch.

Climate friendly lettuce
On the other hand, Migros' demand did not catch all producers cold. Patrick Forster, Managing Director and owner of the Forster Group, has already taken all kinds of steps by himself.

Hydroponic lettuce. The vegetable garden of the future?

When he built a modest new greenhouse a few years ago, he installed a waste heat installation instead of a conventional one. According to Forster, the greenhouse emits around 700 tonnes less CO2 per year. That's as many greenhouse gases as about 700 single households emit annually.

Sustainable Hydro Lettuce
In the Forster's greenhouse, lettuces are lined up next to other lettuces. Forster delivers them to the Migros. This so-called Hydro Lettuce production facility is already very sustainable, because it functions with a minimum use of water, pesticides and fertilizer, says Forster. The climate-friendly heating mode completes this sustainable project.

His greenhouse is situated next to a waste incineration plant in the district of Oftringen in the canton of Aargau. A special pipeline transports warm water to the greenhouse, where it creates the necessary temperatures. This heating system was twice as expensive as a conventional heating system, says Forster. However, the vegetable growers will have earned back the investment costs within five years.

After that, the heating system is quite a bit cheaper: "This way, we have realized an economically and environmentally sensible project," says the vegetable grower and entrepreneur. But not everyone can build a greenhouse like him, next to a waste incineration plant. "For some companies it will be almost impossible to find a solution," Forster thinks.

View fullsize

For more information: 
A. Trachsel AG - Forster Gruppe
Inh. Patrick Forster
Gewerbe Brunnmatt 7
6264 Pfaffnau (CH)
+41 62 746 93 00
www.trachsel.ch  

View fullsize

Publication date: 5/8/2019 

Geothermal Energy May Make Indoor Farming Work in The Future

September 27, 2018 By JULIE CAMPBELL

The farms of the future may be possible even in an urban setting with the right alternative energy.

Technology and geothermal energy advances are sending farming indoors on an increasing basis. This is the case both with urban greenhouses on a smaller scale or larger scale greenhouses.

The primary challenge with these types of greenhouse have to do with the energy they need.

Greenhouse operation is energy intensive, with high demands for electricity because of lighting, but, more importantly, heating. It is in the area of heating that geothermal energy presents a significant opportunity.

As populations rise and the demand for local food production increases, indoor farming may become much more important even in urban settings, according to a recent World Economic Forum article. That said, in order to make that financially feasible, producers need to look to affordable alternative energy options.

These urban operations rely on using every square inch to its greatest potential, as space is much more limited. Moreover, everything must operate on less water. That said, as these indoor farms – small or large in size – have the same heating and lighting requirements as a traditional farm. This requires affordable sources of energy.

Many in the industry believe geothermal energy will be among the leading solutions for indoor farming.

Among the reasons that many will look to geothermal energy is that there are already many success stories with this technology. It is not only receiving increasing attention from those in the industry, but it has also already proven itself in many examples.

For example, one of the largest flower producers in Kenya, called Oserien, uses geothermal power for heating as well as small-scale electricity production. In the Netherlands, energy is becoming increasingly expensive, so geothermal wells are being drilled for many greenhouse operators that need heat. Iceland has widespread geothermal energy heating in its greenhouses to make it possible to grow vegetables throughout the year.

Germany is home to several geothermal power projects being developed to use this resource for their greenhouse operator heating. A new effort has also been underway in Pagoda Springs, Colorado, where it is being used for vegetable production on top of broadening economic development.

Study Shows How Badly Smog Can Cripple Solar Farms

By Avery Thompson

Aug 30, 2018

A lot can keep solar panels from generating electricity, from cloud cover blocking the sun to simply being nighttime. But according to recent research, one of the biggest obstacles facing solar farms is smog and haze from air pollution.

It’s not surprising that air pollution can make solar panels less effective since it can cut down on visibility and reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the ground. In the past, researchers have found that air pollution can lead to dust buildup on solar panels that can dramatically reduce their effectiveness.

This new research, from scientists at MIT and Singapore, calculates how much solar energy is lost due to smog in many of the world’s biggest cities. In the city of Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, electricity generation is reduced by more than 10 percent the study finds, which translates to a cost of more than $20 million.

The problem is more than just inefficiency. A loss of this size could spell doom for many urban solar farms by seriously inhibiting their ability to turn a profit. Pollution can turn a money-making solar farm into a money sink.

Even worse, the lack of a solar alternative naturally just increases reliance on smog-generating fossil fuels and could serve to lock entire regions into a vicious cycle. This gives us another reason to keep our air clean, just in case we didn’t have enough.

Source: Energy and Environmental Science

The Rise Of The Urban Rooftop

1,408 views Aug 10, 2018, 01:03am

The Rise Of The Urban Rooftop

Laurie Winkless - Contributor

Science

The rooftops of our cities are wowefully under-utilised, despite the constant-battle for land (Image credit: Shutterstock)

With space at a premium, cities are exploring new ways to make better use of their rooftops.

Our cities have never been denser, taller, or busier than they are now, and with that, comes the constant battle for land. Whether you’re a city dweller, developer, transport planner, or farmer, you’re forced to compete for dwindling amounts of available space. And with two-thirds of the world’s population predicted to live in cities by 2050, the stress on urban infrastructure looks set to outpace even the most carefully-laid plans. But if we look at aerial images of any city center, we can quickly spot plenty of unused space – the rooftops. Speaking to Scientific American, Steven Peck from a non-profit called Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, describes the roofscapes of our cities as “the last urban frontier – (representing) 15 to 35 % of the total land area.”

So what can we use this precious resource for? In a growing number of high-density cities, some of it is dedicated to recreation – everything from bars and pools, to soccer pitches and running tracks can now be found atop skyscrapers. Others host smog-eating roof tiles or questionable wind turbines, while in China, a large shopping mall has 25 villas on its roof. But when a rooftop offers access to sunlight, there are two more obvious candidates for its use – agriculture and solar power.

Green Cities

Green roofs have been growing in popularity for more than a decade, and in some cases, growing in scale too – atop a convention center in Manhattan sits the city’s largest, covering an area of 89,000 m2. Usually comprised of planted beds, or carpet-like tiles that encouraged the growth of low profile vegetation, green roofs can provide a habitat for birds and insects in an otherwise hostile environment. They also act as thermal insulation for the building, and reduce storm water runoff that can otherwise cause havoc in urban sewers.

Green roofs come with the added benefit of mitigating the dreaded urban heat island effect, whereby, as a result of heat-absorbing materials like asphalt and concrete, cities can be several degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside. In contrast, trees and green spaces can absorb shortwave radiation, and use it to evaporate water from their leaves – a kind of ‘double cooling’ effect. There are countless studies that back up this idea. One of the most interesting came from researchers at the University of Georgia. In 2015, they showed not only that ‘green’ cities are cool cities, but that networks of small urban green spaces, such as parks, gardens and green roofs, were more effective at reducing a city’s temperature than a singular park of the equivalent size.

In some European and US cities, councils now offer significant financial incentives to developers who install a green roof – in Hamburg, building owners can receive subsidies of 30–60% of its installation costs. And from 2020, green roofs will be considered compulsory for all new, large-scale builds in the city. (CONTINUED...)

uilding-intergrated PVs are growing in popularity. But are they always the best option? (Photo by Thomas Imo/Photothek via Getty Images)

As food security and urban nutrition creep ever-higher on the agenda for the United Nations, there’s also a worldwide movement of using green roofs for hyper-local food production. In regions with suitable climates, hundreds of different vegetables, fruits, herbs and salad leaves can be grown on rooftops. Beehives and chicken coops are also becoming commonplace amongst the high-rises. But not all rooftop farms are equal, as we’ll discuss.

Power Up

But first, what about solar power? With so many cities now divesting from fossil fuels, and the costs of solar panels dropping dramatically, photovoltaic (PV) systems have become the ‘go to’ option for generating distributed power in built-up areas. And, even with standard commercial panels, the energy gains are dramatic. The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have estimated that rooftop PV systems could generate almost 40% of electricity demands nationwide. NREL also developed a very cool visualization tool called PVWatts to help people discover if solar panels would work for them. In 2012, Dutch researchers calculated that building-integrated photovoltaics could deliver 840 TWh of electricity – that’s more than a fifth of the total annual demand for all of the EU-27 countries.

In 2011, a fascinating map was published by the City University of New York. Assembled from images taken by a LIDAR-enabled (Light Detection and Ranging) aircraft, it showed that at the time, 66.4% of New York’s buildingshad roof space suitable for commercial photovoltaic systems. Furthermore, they estimated that, even with NYC’s changeable weather, rooftop installations could meet close to 14% of the city’s annual electricity consumption.

And cities have certainly taken note of this data – in many cases, making such installations compulsory, as in Sao Paulo, where Brazil’s Ministry of Cities announced that future low-income housing developments should include rooftop photovoltaics.

Which one to choose?

There’s no doubt that in both cases, a network of ‘productive rooftops’ could benefit the local community by supplying a portion of a necessary resource – either food or electricity – while also reducing their environmental burden. But is one better than the other? (CONTINUED...)

This was the question posed by researchers from MIT and the University of Lisbon in a recent paper in the journal Cities. Focusing on the rooftops of a mixed-use neighborhood in Lisbon, they carried out a Cost-Benefit Analysis for four scenarios – 1. Open-air rooftop farming, 2. Rooftop farming in low-tech greenhouses, 3. ‘Controlled environment agriculture’ (farming in high-tech greenhouses) or 4. Solar PV energy generation. Starting with existing data on everything from installation costs and resources used, to carbon footprint and yield, they modelled the impact that each installation would have on the local community over a period of 50 years.

The researchers took a footprint of one square meter of roofing, considered a population of 17,500 residents, and for the farms, looked only at a single crop – tomatoes. The fruit is not only incredibly popular in the Portuguese diet – with an average of 10.4 kg eaten per year, per person – there’s also a large body of data available on their growing requirements and yields. For solar power, they considered standard single-crystalline silicon PV modules, arranged on flat or pitched roofs. They also assumed that the PVs installation would act as part of the grid – in other words, though generated locally, the electricity would be distributed via existing infrastructure.

Urban farming might add value to a neighbourhood far beyond what had been previously assumed (Photo by John S Lander/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Here are a few highlights from their study:

• The benefits of food production varied according to the supply chain, except for high-tech rooftop farms, which were predicted to be profitable regardless. Open-air and low-tech greenhouses were found to only profit when the crops are sold directly to consumers.

• If the demand for tomatoes in Lisbon was to be met through rooftop farming, you’d require 1.89 square meters for organic field cultivation (#1), 0.37 m2 for soil-less cultivation in unconditioned greenhouses (#2), or 0.15 m2 for controlled-environment agriculture (#3)

• A rooftops farm could potentially create five times as many local jobs as a rooftop PV system, but would involve much higher operation and maintenance costs

• The electricity yield for PVs installed on south-oriented unshaded rooftops was calculated to be approximately 300 kWh/m2/year.

So, both options seem pretty good. But it’s when we look at the bigger picture that the differences start to show. I’ve written about the questionable profitability of urban farming in the past, but that was only ever as measured on individual farmers, which – I say, with the benefit of hindsight – doesn’t make all that much sense in the context of a city.

This study, however, takes a broader, and much more sensible view – it looks at rooftop installations as part of an interconnected network. And it’s which measures the overall value – in terms of economics and the environment – to both the building owner, and the community around it. And by looking at it that way, they concluded that for Lisbon, the use of rooftops for food production could yield significantly higher local value than solar PV energy generation or standard green roofs. Of course, this is very site-specific – in another city, you might come to exactly the opposite conclusion, but that’s kind of the point. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to make cities more sustainable, and anyone who tells you otherwise is massively over-simplifying a complex issue.

There are lots of things that will help anywhere – e.g. moving from private cars to mass transit, making renewable energy the default option, being smarter with how we use water, reducing our reliance on concrete, minimizing our waste footprint, and reserving single-use plastics for very, very specific applications. But when it comes to ‘other’ questions, like should we use our rooftops for energy generation or farming, the answers are a lot less black-and-white. By adopting research like the study I’ve featured here, we can get much closer to making the right decision for our specific circumstances. The authors said that their study “…aims to provide decision-makers with a basis for systematic and integrated comparison of these productive uses of rooftops.” Now, all I hope is that some of those decision makers start using it.

Imagining The Impossible: The Futuristic Designs of Vincent Callebaut

Adam Williams

July 24th, 2018

New Atlas takes a look at Vincent Callebaut's most interesting architectural designs (Credit: Vincent Callebaut Architectures)

Sometimes outlandish, often fantastical, but always compelling, Vincent Callebaut's projects range from realizable ideas like towers covered in greenery to conceptual works depicting a near-future in which architecture, technology, and nature are blended to make cities a more pleasant – and sustainable – place to live.

The Belgian architect heads his firm Vincent Callebaut Architectures in Paris, France. Over the years he has developed a recognizable design language that draws inspiration from nature and makes liberal use of honeycomb patterns and complex geometry. He seems poised for greater prominence now though, as at least two of his projects are due to be built in the next few years.

Let's take a look at some of his most interesting designs.

5 Farming Bridges

Now that the so-called Islamic State has been expelled from Mosul, Iraq, the reconstruction of the city can begin. The 5 Farming Bridges proposal involves rebuilding a like number of bridges destroyed during the fighting and using them as residential units and urban farms. Existing rubble would be used as building material, with flying drones and spider-like robots doing the actual construction.

Manta Ray

The Manta Ray proposal envisions a manta ray-shaped ferry terminal in Seoul, South Korea. The remarkable-looking building would float in place to deal with seasonal flooding and sport a huge roof covered with a solar power array, along with a wind turbine farm. Biodegradable waste and high-tech water turbines would transform the river's kinetic energy into power too – all of which would allow the ferry terminal to power itself and send a surplus to Seoul.

2050 Paris Smart City

Created for a competition seeking ideas to turn the City of Light into a City of Green in the coming decades, 2050 Paris Smart City calls for 15 new sustainable towers to be built on the rooftops of existing buildings on the city's famous Rue De Rivoli. The towers would feature residential units and sport dragonfly-shaped solar panels on their facade, providing all required electricity for the project.

Nautilus Eco-Resort

The Nautilus Eco-Resort is a paradise imagined for the Philippines that would allow well-heeled tourists to vacation without polluting the planet (excepting on the flight there, presumably). The whole thing would be arranged into a shape inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and include a dozen spiral hotel towers that rotate to follow the sun. Nearby, a like number of sea snail-shaped buildings would include exhibition spaces and hotels, while at its center would be a large timber building covered with vegetable gardens and orchards.

Tour & Taxis

Callebaut's Tour & Taxis sees the Belgian architect propose a return to his home country to transform a former industrial area in Brussels into a vibrant sustainable community. The area would comprise three ski jump-shaped high-rises that would be topped by solar panels and covered in greenery. Other notable elements include wind turbines, rainwater harvesting, and the production of fruit and vegetables.

Hyperions

Hyperions consists of a cluster of connected timber towers in New Delhi, India, that are named after, and take design cues from, the world's tallest living tree. It will boast extensive greenery and enable occupants to grow their own vegetables on balconies, as well as the facades, the rooftops, and in specialized greenhouses. The interior is taken up by apartments, student housing, and office space, and it will all be powered by solar panels. According to Callebaut, this one is going to be built and is due to be completed by 2022.

Agora Garden Tower

It can be difficult to imagine how exactly all these renders would translate into brick and mortar buildings, but Taipei's Agora Garden Tower shows the way. Sporting a twisting form inspired by DNA's double helix shape, the building twists 4.5 degrees each floor, turning a total of 90 degrees in all. Once completed, it'll feature 23,000 trees, as well as a rainwater capture system and solar power.

New York City Council Pushes Green Infrastructure At New Developments

July 18, 2018

Bill would mandate rooftops be outfitted with gardens, solar panels or wind turbines

By Joe Anuta

The City Council plans to introduce a bill Wednesday mandating green roofs on certain new developments. Expect push-back from the real estate industry.

The legislation, sponsored by Brooklyn Councilmen Rafael Espinal Jr. and Stephen Levin, would require 100% of the rooftops on newly built or substantially renovated commercial or industrial buildings to be outfitted with some combination of green space, solar panels and wind turbines. The aim of the legislation is to save energy because  buildings are responsible for three-quarters of carbon emission in the city.

"We have to look at the infrastructure improvements we can make here to ensure we're doing our part in reducing our carbon footprint and cooling our city down," Espinal told The New York Times.

But increasing construction costs and commandeering rooftop space that is increasingly used for amenities to lure commercial tenants are sure to provoke a confrontation with the development community.

The council has considered a number of bills recently that relate to urban wind power, which is far from the most viable way to make the city greener. Reducing consumption would have a much bigger impact, and wind power is most effective when harnessed at offshore farms.

56 Turbines And A 20 MW Battery To Supply 10 ha Greenhouse With Renewable Energy

56 Turbines And A 20 MW Battery To Supply 10 ha Greenhouse With Renewable Energy

The LED lamps of the 10-hectare Australian agribusiness Nectar Farms are to be powered with wind and battery storaged energy. The greenhouse will share its site with a power renewable power company Neoen. They ordered the building of a pioneering wind complex. A wind farm will be installed by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy with 56 of the firm's SG 3.4-132 turbines (for total capacity of 194 MW) and a battery energy storage system.

View fullsize

Stawell

According to the Victorian government, this project will make the advanced agriculture facility the world’s first ever crop farm to be completely powered by renewable energy. “This is an exciting initiative which illustrates how renewable energy can unlock opportunities for large, energy-intensive businesses to create jobs and build a better future for regional communities", says Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change.

The whole project is to be realised at the Bulgana Green Energy Hub, located in the Australian town of Stawell, in the state of Victoria. The whole facility will comprise a 194 MW wind farm as well as a 20 MW / 34 MWh lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery. Construction is set to begin right away and the commissioning of the facility is expected by August 2019.

The power of the complex is to be purchased by two partners: the government of the state of Victoria has agreed to buy the power for the next 15 years, and the Nectar Farms has agreed to do so for the next 10 years.

View fullsize

LED light technology

Nectar Farms will use LED light technology to grow tomatoes in glasshouses. In total, they plan a 40-hectare facility. 

It is estimated that 97% of Nectar Farms needs will be supplied by 15% of all of the electricity generated at the wind plus storage facility, with the rest going directly to the local grid. Only 3 percent of Nectar Farms' energy demand cannot be supplied with wind energy when longer no-wind-periods occur. 

Nectar Farms will also receive the power stored in the batteries during low wind periods. The energy supplied directly from the wind farm, at a lower cost than available from the grid, helped its business case to proceed. 

Bulgana Green Energy Huby

Under the terms of the contract entered into with the renewable energy IPP, Neoen, Siemens Gamesa will build the entire complex on an EPC basis and then maintain it for 25 years. 

For more information:
Siemens Gamesa
www.siemensgamesa.com

Publication date: 4/12/2018