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I don't understand vertical farming for anything other than crops that aren't eaten for their calorie content. To me, it seems like an expensive way to increas
by tyho 3y ago
I don't understand vertical farming for anything other than crops that aren't eaten for their calorie content.
To me, it seems like an expensive way to increase the land needed to grow food. Land use is increased, assuming the energy to light the greenhouse comes from solar panels. You need ~ 10 m^2 of solar panels to provide 1 m^2 of sun-equivalent light, sure there might be some optimization to be done with wavelengths and intensity, but I haven't seen anything to indicate you could ever break even.
Why build a solar farm to convert light to electricity, then a big greenhouse where that electricity is converted back into light? Just plant the crops where you were going to put the solar panels!
- GaryNumanVevo 3y agoA farm that uses artificial light (vertical, greenhouse, or otherwise) could actually be a perfect electrical load shedding mechanism. Keep the lights at nominal levels during normal grid operation, and turn them up to absorb grid load. Preferably you're colocating this near the source of excess solar / wind energy. The farm would be providing the grid a valuable service, while also dumping that excess energy into usable calories.
- antisthenes 3y ago> Keep the lights at nominal levels during normal grid operation, and turn them up to absorb grid load. That's a great way to light-burn the sensitive plants and to shorten the life of LED lights. There are approximately hundreds of better ways to shed grid load.