5 ms·

LEDs for fibre options to bounce sun light in. The tunnels wouldn't get big changes in temperature, would only get the water it needs and you could have light

• zrobotics 8y ago
  But you have to pay that power bill for the other 12 hours the sun isn't shining. Plus, drilling to install fiber-optic cables will be a huge expense. And, in order to collect enough sunlight to light the mine the area above the mine will still need to be blanketed with collectors. After all, you can't collect enough sunlight to feed 1m^2 of plants from a 1cm^2 area at the surface. Efficiency losses will actually require >1m^2 area at the surface to capture adequate light, so why not just avoid all the additional expense and put a greenhouse on the land above the mine?
  • simonh 8y ago
    >so why not just avoid all the additional expense and put a greenhouse on the land above the mine? If only the article covered the advantages this approach has to offer over surface green houses..... oh, wait! It's not even that I'm convinced their approach is viable, but how about at least critiquing their answers to your questions?
  • dmurray 8y ago
    > But you have to pay that power bill for the other 12 hours the sun isn't shining. This is really a bizarre objection. What do you think overground farms do at night?
    • war1025 8y ago
      The grandparent specifically said "lights running 24/7"