Japanese Farmer Builds High-Tech Indoor Veggie Factory
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Re: Japanese Farmer Builds High-Tech Indoor Veggie Factory
#2The LED grow lights seem to be a real game-changer; the most modest estimates put the power savings at ~%50 (over HPS).
Re: Japanese Farmer Builds High-Tech Indoor Veggie Factory
#3The LED grow lights seem to be a real game-changer; the most modest estimates put the power savings at ~%50 (over HPS).
However in the article's example there is only negative power savings as the plants used to get fed for free from the sun, now they're consuming electricity from the grid.
Now that might be recoverable via reductions in waste and lower water consumption (see article) but it isn't automatically a net win, it might be a net loss overall. Need data.
Re: Japanese Farmer Builds High-Tech Indoor Veggie Factory
#4The LED grow lights seem to be a real game-changer; the most modest estimates put the power savings at ~%50 (over HPS).
However in the article's example there is only negative power savings as the plants used to get fed for free from the sun, now they're consuming electricity from the grid. Now that might be recoverable via reductions in waste and lower water consumption (see article) but it isn't automatically a net win, it might be a net loss overall. Need data.
Right; the savings (over conventional growing, not indoor w/HPS) would have to come from increasing yield due to the controlled environment.
Re: Japanese Farmer Builds High-Tech Indoor Veggie Factory
#5The LED grow lights seem to be a real game-changer; the most modest estimates put the power savings at ~%50 (over HPS).
However in the article's example there is only negative power savings as the plants used to get fed for free from the sun, now they're consuming electricity from the grid. Now that might be recoverable via reductions in waste and lower water consumption (see article) but it isn't automatically a net win, it might be a net loss overall. Need data.
[deleted]
Re: Japanese Farmer Builds High-Tech Indoor Veggie Factory
#6The LED grow lights seem to be a real game-changer; the most modest estimates put the power savings at ~%50 (over HPS).
However in the article's example there is only negative power savings as the plants used to get fed for free from the sun, now they're consuming electricity from the grid. Now that might be recoverable via reductions in waste and lower water consumption (see article) but it isn't automatically a net win, it might be a net loss overall. Need data.
'The LED lights are a key part of the farm’s magic. They allow Shimamura to control the night-and-day cycle and accelerate growth. “What we need to do is not just setting up more days and nights,” he says. “We want to achieve the best combination of photosynthesis during the day and breathing at night by controlling the lighting and the environment.”'
Also: 'He is also able to cut discarded produce from 50 percent to just 10 percent of the harvest, compared to a conventional farm. As a result, the farms productivity per square foot is up 100-fold, he says.
By controlling temperature, humidity and irrigation, the farm can also cut its water usage to just 1 percent of the amount needed by outdoor fields.'
These are serious productivity gains, but, as you say, they have to be balanced against electricity use.
Re: Japanese Farmer Builds High-Tech Indoor Veggie Factory
#7In countries/areas where land prices are very expensive, this might help.
In the US I don't see this helping with common food stock (wheat/corn/cotton/soybean/tobacco/...). I could see this used for presentation foods (foods we judge more from looks) since you can control everything so much more you will likely get more products that can demand a premium price.
Re: Japanese Farmer Builds High-Tech Indoor Veggie Factory
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
However in the article's example there is only negative power savings as the plants used to get fed for free from the sun, now they're consuming electricity from the grid. Now that might be recoverable via reductions in waste and lower water consumption (see article) but it isn't automatically a net win, it might be a net loss overall. Need data.
'The LED lights are a key part of the farm’s magic. They allow Shimamura to control the night-and-day cycle and accelerate growth. “What we need to do is not just setting up more days and nights,” he says. “We want to achieve the best combination of photosynthesis during the day and breathing at night by controlling the lighting and the environment.”' Also: 'He is also able to cut discarded produce from 50 percent to…
Additional productivity gains might be made by operating the "indoor farm" within dense urban areas and thus closer to the consumer, thereby removing transportation costs associated with a typical farm.
Re: Japanese Farmer Builds High-Tech Indoor Veggie Factory
#9The LED grow lights seem to be a real game-changer; the most modest estimates put the power savings at ~%50 (over HPS).
However in the article's example there is only negative power savings as the plants used to get fed for free from the sun, now they're consuming electricity from the grid. Now that might be recoverable via reductions in waste and lower water consumption (see article) but it isn't automatically a net win, it might be a net loss overall. Need data.
Agreed. More data is needed to see clearly if on a larger scale this is economically feasible to do.
From my little experience with hydroponics, water and land use are the two major wins. Electricity can be a deal breaker but that depends on a lot of factors (type of produce, electricity prices, closeness to city, production vs consumption quantities, etc).
From a personal point of view, I strongly support this type of growth for a couple of reasons: more food for less cost, cities gain food independence, natural land use and abuse gets curtailed dramatically. Now if we could only switch more people (me included) to a vegetarian diet.
Re: Japanese Farmer Builds High-Tech Indoor Veggie Factory
#10I wonder if they can use this tech in the space station or maybe a mission to Mars? Doesn't seem to need much water and we can probably use solar power to power the lights?