We Should Grow All Food Underground • Hacker News Board

Re: We Should Grow All Food Underground

#11

Post by Aeronwen » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 6:34 PM UTC

sunshineforever wrote: post #9

I don't understand why? Build above ground solar grids and LED lights to transfer the light underground... For what purpose? The light is on the surface...

A friend of mine ran off with some people to grow crops in an underground bunker to survive WWIII or something like that.

I haven't kept in touch so I don't know how that panned out.

Re: We Should Grow All Food Underground

#12

Post by mikewarot » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 9:15 PM UTC

It is always good to have backup plans, even if they aren't practical now, they might do in a pinch. (Or in extreme environments). It is amazing that food and fuel are as cheap as they are right now. All sorts of things can go wrong on a global scale, it has happened more than once before. The best way to have a backup is one that has already been tested, even if its on a small scale.

Thanks for posting this. I'm done with having my examples picked apart, so I'm not going to do it with him. The fact is that it's less crazy than it used to be, which is a good trend.

I subscribe to many channels like this on youtube, and sometimes interesting things show up years later. I expect at some point I'll need to weld 2 incompatible things together, but by then the folks at "Impulse Manufacturing Laboratory at Ohio State" will have figured out how to do it, for example.

Re: We Should Grow All Food Underground

#13

Post by foxyv » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 9:33 PM UTC

sunshineforever wrote: post #9

I don't understand why? Build above ground solar grids and LED lights to transfer the light underground... For what purpose? The light is on the surface...

There are serious advantages to indoor farming in addition to the ability to stack vertically. Pest control, cross pollination, water loss prevention, and runoff management are a few of the big ones. You can keep pests at a standstill without killing natural species of bees and butterflies. You can prevent runoff from contaminating water sources as well.

Yields are significantly higher when you use indoor farming as well. Energy efficiency is nearly the same thanks to the use of high intensity LEDs tuned to photosynthesis. Water usage is MUCH lower as well. Some aquaponic methods are remarkably water efficient allowing the growth of water intense plants like lettuce and cabbage.

However those advantages don't outpace the current economic reality of vast tracts of cheap agricultural land and a global economy with massive economies of scale. The only niche for it right now is valuable fruits and vegetables that don't transport well or grow poorly. Stuff like microgreens, Ginseng, and Saffron. (Also, of course, Marijuana)

Re: We Should Grow All Food Underground

#14

Post by accountofme » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 11:27 PM UTC

Having looked at the cost of growing crops with LEDs in containers... Its not cheap. The cost of the tunnels is also not cheap. Whilst we might survive underground we will also need people underground, industry underground...