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We need to talk more about the energy consumption of these farms. They are marketing themselves with "green" branding but.. they are indoors and use artificial
by abalone 8y ago
We need to talk more about the energy consumption of these farms. They are marketing themselves with "green" branding but.. they are indoors and use artificial light. One study found hydroponics use 7X more energy:
"At this point in time, hydroponic farming of lettuce cannot be deemed a more sustainable alternative to conventional lettuce farming techniques, but it provides promising concepts that could lead to more sustainable food production."[1]
And yes conventional agriculture has other negative impacts (water, transport, land), but I'm not hearing much about energy use from these startups.
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4483736/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4483736/
- freeflight 8y ago> One study found hydroponics use 7X more energy Hydroponics also create a lot of wastewater, its a fact rarely mentioned but when the goal is sustainability then created waste should also be accounted for. Aquaponic systems don't have that issue because they copy a natural ecosystem on a small scale. Imho that's where the future of human food production needs to go.
- jelliclesfarm 8y agoI agree that aquaponics is ‘cleaner’ than hydroponics but now we are into fish farming and not just growing plants as food. It’s certainly the more organic option. There is a company that is trying to use organic/natural hydroponic nutrient inputs than just what’s been used all along. It will take some time(and testing) to adapt.