Building Integrated Agriculture
Moving the farm not just into the city, but onto the rooftops of buildings addresses not only the challenge of food transportation and quality, but also the energy and water use of greenhouse production.
Energy
Hydroponic greenhouses are extremely efficient vegetable production facilities, in terms of the water and land they use relative to the vegetable yields they produce. But they typically consume very large amounts of energy.
Energy is required to cool the greenhouse during the summer months and to heat it during the winter. In conventional greenhouses, this energy comes from fossil fuels. So not only do most hydroponic greenhouses have very large energy bills, they also have a very large carbon footprint.
Central to the BrightFarm Systems’ design approach is the integration of the greenhouse into the energy systems of the building, to the maximum extent possible.
Our systems are designed, wherever possible, to make use of waste heat from the host building. This waste HVAC heat can be recaptured and diverted straight into the greenhouse, providing free heat to crops in the winter.
Where insufficient waste heat is available, our greenhouse heating system can also make use of the host building’s heating system.
In both instances, our objective is to radically reduce, or to eliminate, the need for standalone heating for the greenhouse. This, in turn, dramatically cuts energy bills and lowers the carbon footprint of the system.
We then integrate solar panels into the greenhouse or site them next to it, providing a perfect source of power to the greenhouse: a grid-tie channels excess electricity back into the grid.
Furthermore, a rooftop covered with vegetation will significantly reduce solar heat gain through the roof and will therefore also help mitigate the urban heat island effect.
Water
Capturing rainwater from the greenhouse roof for the hydroponic systems, saves water and helps storm water overflow: a major ecological problem for many large cities.
Ecological Benefits
BrightFarm Systems approaches are simple, pragmatic and require no new technology. Up to 0.5 kg of CO2 emissions can be mitigated for each kg of vegetables produced in a rooftop greenhouse.
Cultivation of food crops on buildings within the built environment will reduce our environmental footprint, cut transportation costs, enhance food security, save energy, and enrich the physical surroundings of building occupants
In Summary
- Save Land: Vegetable yields are about 20 times the typical yields of field agriculture.
- Save Water: Recirculating irrigation consumes five to ten times less water than field agriculture.
- Protect rivers: Recirculating systems eliminate fertilizer runoff to surface waters.
- Reduce pollution: Urban greenhouses eliminate the use of fossil fuels in tractors and trucks
- Recover rainwater: The greenhouse roof can be designed to capture rainfall, reducing storm overflow. Improve food safety: Integrated pest management does not require chemical pesticides.
- Improve health: Access to fresh vegetables is improved in urban communities.
- Reduces waste: Waste heat from buildings can be captured to heat the greenhouse.
- Cool buildings: A cover of vegetation mitigates the urban heat island effect, even under glass.
- Combat global warming: Up to 0.5 kg of CO2 emissions can be mitigated for each kg of vegetables produced in a rooftop greenhouse.