Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries • Hacker News Board

Re: Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries

#11

Post by realusername » Sat, Jul 11, 2015, 10:33 PM UTC

jewel wrote: post #4

droopyEyelids wrote: post #3

where do they mention how light gets to the plants?

It says that the greenhouses are transparent. At 20 feet down that would mean something like 25% of the sunlight is left [1]. I'm surprised that strawberries will grow in that little light, since they don't do as well in the shade. [1]: Rough estimate based on http://oceansjsu.com/105d/exped_briny/13.html .

Same for me, I'm was quite suspicious about this.

Especially also that you might not get the whole spectrum at this depth and this might be problematic for some plants.

Re: Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries

#12

Post by technotony » Sat, Jul 11, 2015, 10:47 PM UTC

"The company is also planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign next week to support further development." Why would a CEO wait till the week after an article with this many readers to launch such a campaign? Surely he could have launched it before this article?

Re: Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries

#13

Post by ajmurmann » Sat, Jul 11, 2015, 10:54 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #8

Ughhhhh websites should do automatic unit translation, I'm pretty sure oceans are not at nearly boiling temperature.

Yeah, that would be really neat. We are already doing it in enough cases for time.

Re: Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries

#14

Post by geon » Sat, Jul 11, 2015, 11:08 PM UTC

pvaldes wrote: post #10

The real question is if we are changing a very productive system for a not soo good one. Octopuses growth much quicker than strawerries, and are also more expensive. Any aquaculture system in the same area will provide much more human food and better revenues (you are using a 3d volume for production instead a 2d surface). Marine soil is not apt to cultivate, so you need to put terrestrial soil underwater (or hydropo…

> There is also a real possibility of contamination of beaches with manure after a storm.

One of the few advantages of underwater agriculture would be the absence of storms. Only a few meters down, you won't notice a storm at all.

Re: Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries

#15

Post by stevewepay » Sun, Jul 12, 2015, 2:36 AM UTC

technotony wrote: post #12

"The company is also planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign next week to support further development." Why would a CEO wait till the week after an article with this many readers to launch such a campaign? Surely he could have launched it before this article?

Maybe because it's good marketing? If someone reads about it on the Washington Post, they're more apt to believe and contribute than someone who sees a random Kickstarter campaign with nothing but a Youtube video.

Re: Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries

#16

Post by rbanffy » Sun, Jul 12, 2015, 2:43 AM UTC

jewel wrote: post #4

droopyEyelids wrote: post #3

where do they mention how light gets to the plants?

It says that the greenhouses are transparent. At 20 feet down that would mean something like 25% of the sunlight is left [1]. I'm surprised that strawberries will grow in that little light, since they don't do as well in the shade. [1]: Rough estimate based on http://oceansjsu.com/105d/exped_briny/13.html .

I'd imagine they wouldn't be very sweet.

Re: Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries

#17

Post by rbanffy » Sun, Jul 12, 2015, 2:44 AM UTC

If the water is coming from desalination, why not desalinate and feed a surface greenhouse? The only advantages are the co2 and temperature.

Re: Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries

#18

Post by orangeshark » Sun, Jul 12, 2015, 3:39 AM UTC

stevewepay wrote: post #15

technotony wrote: post #12

"The company is also planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign next week to support further development." Why would a CEO wait till the week after an article with this many readers to launch such a campaign? Surely he could have launched it before this article?

Maybe because it's good marketing? If someone reads about it on the Washington Post, they're more apt to believe and contribute than someone who sees a random Kickstarter campaign with nothing but a Youtube video.

I think the above poster is talking about how everyone will forget about it in a week. Better to have it started now where everyone can just contribute to the campaign after they read the article.

Re: Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries

#19

Post by nathancahill » Sun, Jul 12, 2015, 3:50 AM UTC

technotony wrote: post #12

"The company is also planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign next week to support further development." Why would a CEO wait till the week after an article with this many readers to launch such a campaign? Surely he could have launched it before this article?

I'm more curious why this needs to be crowdfunded at all? Seems like a venture where very few people would be able to understand the "Risks and Challenges".

New, unproven and expensive/risky technologies aren't a great candidate for crowdfunding.

Re: Underwater greenhouses are growing strawberries

#20

Post by ars » Sun, Jul 12, 2015, 5:05 AM UTC

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see what being under the ocean has to do with anything?

You can get humidity in a simple greenhouse, and there is no more CO2 in air exposed to the ocean than there is in ordinary air.