WWII Bomb Shelter Becomes Hi-Tech Salad Farm

asjk points out a story of how a World War II bomb shelter, situated 33 meters beneath the streets of London, has been turned into a high-tech hydroponic farm. "The growing system uses energy-efficient LEDs instead of sun, no pesticides, needs 70 percent less water than growing plants in open fields, and less energy than a greenhouse." The computer-controlled environment is designed to shorten the growth cycle of plants like coriander and radishes. They're currently only using about a quarter of the gear necessary to fill up the shelter, but they can produce 5,000-20,000 kilograms of food per year, depending on what they raise. Co-founder Steven Dring said, "We've got to utilize the spaces we've got. There's a finite amount of land and we can grow salads and herbs — which start losing flavor and quality as soon as you cut them — in warehouses and rooftops in cities near the people who will eat them. Use the rural land for things like carrots, potatoes and livestock."

Comments

What About Nutrition?

[EmagGeek]

The article (or shall I say shameless advertisement) goes out of its way to talk about how much they shower the growing plants with "nutrients," but says not one iota about the nutritional content of the final product and how it compares to organic or conventionally grown produce.

Same old story...

[__aaclcg7560]

Use the rural land for things like carrots, potatoes and livestock.

Tell that to the real estate developer who wants to build $1B in homes on a flood plain, gives contributions to the politicians to make it happen, and won't be around when rising sea levels wipes out the homes that homeowners will expect taxpayers to pay for.

Bullshit

[TheCarp]

Ok, main place I started being skeptical was the LEDs vs the SUN. Now, MAYBE its possible that the LEDs are efficient enough that the electricity cost of running them is offset by the decreased water, other energy needs, but....

The sun is a lot of energy and plants convert light to sugar.... they need light, so converting it to something else and back has to be less efficient than letting it shine on them directly. But....

"no pesticides"....no way. None to start maybe but, plant pests will get in and they will require pesticides to remove. Might get your first crop or two pest free, but without pesticides or a complete sanitary cleanout between crops, its not going to last.

Re:Bullshit

[gstoddart]

Which nobody is claiming ... what they're saying is, given a finite amount of land, and the fact that nutrients are lost once you harvest and begin shipping ... you can also grow some food close to where the people who will eat it actually live. And you can do it year round.

Efficiency, in this case, includes year round production, shipping, and the ability to have certain kinds of fresh produce without having to ship it around the world.

Unless you have a way to ship lettuce from Peru to London which is solar powered, you're kind of missing one of the points. Local production has its own efficiencies and benefits.