Home » Eco Ideas, Food, Garden, Sustainable, Water Conservation

A new way to grow food…

The folks at Omega Garden have created a few different machines that are going to change the way we think about a greenhouse.  Rotating cylinders with a light in the center and plants growing all along the inner side, watered automatically all day long by a controlled gravity drip.  Omega has created models for home/small business and another model for high scale greenhouse operations.  With the commercial sized one you can get 6,600 sq ft of growing space while only using 100 sq ft of floor space.

Currently, the worlds population growth is far outstripping our ability to produce food.  Already there are about a billion people in the world that do not always have enough to eat.  Whats worse is that our government has not caught on with the times and still subsidizes poor factory farming practices that destroy the land, and use far more water while polluting everything around it with pesticides and animal by products.  With the Omega garden and other smarter hydroponic methods of growing food, water use is reduced up to 99% because the water is not lost into the ground and can be recycled.  Furthermore, the machinery is enclosed indoors so the water loss from natural plant transpiration and evaporation are eliminated along with the bugs and the need for pesticides.

The Omega garden goes even further in the conservation than other hydroponic methods as they conserve light energy through the cylindrical design.  Normally, a light would have to be above the plants, and have a reflector above it so that the light moving upwards away from the light would not be lost.  With the cylindrical design, the light is in the center and the plants are growing all around it, giving it 360 degrees of effectiveness.  Using this design, you can get a pound of basil for .38KWh (about 3-5x the yield of standard methods).

With water and farmable land becoming scarcer and our population growing, its ideas like this that are going to keep us from starving……See more at Ecofriend

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New Washing Machine uses 90% less water!

Normally a super energy/water efficient appliance is not really news or worthy of a blog post.  However, this particular article really grabbed my attention.  This new prototype washing machine designed by Professor Stephen Burkinshaw from the University of Leeds uses 90% less water.  The concept comes from nylon beads that roll around and tumble with the clothing, all while cleaning and removing dirt and stains.  Here is the best part, it is a washer and dryer combined into one, and the drying cycle is even energy efficient eliminating the need for a tumble cycle.  If everyone in America had one of these washers instead of the current set we all have now, that would be like removing 5 million cars from the road and 17 million swimming pools worth of water saved each year.  Now the next logical step is a washing machine that folds the laundry as well……..maybe even puts it away for you?  Check out more on Inhabitat.

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DePave Portland

DePave is a project of the Portland non-profit City Repair who’s goal is to remove unnecessary concrete from urban areas, and to aid and educate other people who would like to do the same thing.  Depaved areas can change a concrete area into a beautiful lush garden that provides the city with cleaner air, cleaner water, less stormwater runoff cost, and ultimately a cleaner river.  Not to mention a community garden is much easier on the eyes than a parking lot.  Just another awesome non-profit in Portland that is trying to help the world one lot at a time in a very innovative way.  Check DePaves website for information on how to start your own depaving project.

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Clean Water Services Field Operation Center

Clean Water Services is a utility serving a large portion of the Portland metro area designed and operated for the sole purpose of protecting the Tualitin river and the watershed.   One of the first of its kind in the nation, Clean Water Services is responsible for protecting water quality in the Tualitin river, manage flooding, protect fish and their habitat, and manage the flow of the river.  They are also responsible for the four treatment facilities spread throughout the area that are responsible for cleaning over 64 million gallons a day.  Clean Water Services has also been working on innovations and keeping up on the green curve by fostering a progressive environment where new ideas are readily accepted.  Their new Field Operations Center has undergone a greening including permeable parking concrete in the employee lot which reduces runoff water from rain by allowing it to soak right into the ground instead of puddling.  Their extensive eco roof also reduces and cleans rainwater runoff.  Around their facility there are also several rain gardens with native Oregon plantlife that soak up and clean the rainwater instead of flowing down to the river (See Landscape Urbanism for photos more).   Their most recent treatment facility upgrade brought their Durham facility up to LEED Silver certification level with another certification from the US Green Buildings Council.

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Vertical Farm in Vancouver, BC

Vancouver, BC, in an effort to become the most sustainable city in the world held the “FormShift Vancouver” Competition which sought ideas to improve liveability through greener, denser urban development.  Romses Architects met that call with the Harvest Tower concept.  This Vertical Farm would be a beautiful and functional building that provided many services to the city including an underground transit station for buses and trains, farmers market, grocery store, a complete farm including plants and animals alike and self sustainable renewable energy from several sources.

The tower would be constructed of many connecting prefabricated tubes that interlock together to create the farm facility.  Fish aquaculture, grazing land for livestock, and growing fruits and vegetables would provide food to supply the farmers market and grocery store in a local and sustainable way (not to mention fresh!).  Electricity for the building would come from 3 sources, the wind turbines on the top, and a photovoltaic (solar power) coating on all of the outside surfaces and windows.  The third source of energy is the most interesting; decaying plant and animal matter is composted and both the heat and offgases (mainly methane) are harnessed to both create electricity, and supply the natural gas needs for the on site living facilities.

The project is in the concept stage for now, but lets hope that we start seeing Vertical Farms start to pop up everywhere around the world, it looks like an amazing way to bring fresh, sustainable, local food with little environmental impact to the masses.  Check out www.verticalfarm.com for more.

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