Aeroponic Farming

My good friend Bill Moore of EVWorld fame writes: Love this, but what are the energy costs and nutrient levels?

I first ran across aeroponic (vertical) farming about the time I met Bill, perhaps 12 years ago, and I have to admit that my first reaction to it was extremely negative.  I mocked the guy who first presented the idea: “You have a perfectly good sun in the sky and nutrient-rich soil, and you’re going to grow massive amounts of product indoors?”

I don’t think anyone’s done a complete breakdown on this concept, but it makes much more sense than might appear on first look.  Here are a few things to consider:

• With vertical farming, you’re getting rid of most of the cost of plowing, planting, fertilizing, harvesting, and distributing produce to far-away places, some of which are on other continents; food is grown very close to where it’s eaten.

• There are no diesel tractors and combines spewing pollution into the skies.

• There are no droughts and floods.

• The cost of water in irrigation is virtually zero, which due to the dreaded “water-energy nexus,” means far less electricity is consumed in purifying and pumping.

• The precisely correct balance of nutrients are added.

• Very little of the energy that goes into fertilizer is wasted, and there is no runoff into our waterways to cause algal blooms.

• The light energy used to grow the plants is the precisely correct part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

• Plants grows faster because the “sun” is shining 24/7 (or whatever’s optimum).

• Society has the potential to rid itself of food deserts, as these “farms” can exist anywhere.

Like so many things, aeroponics really delivers when we put a price on carbon.  The moment the producers and consumers of gasoline, diesel and electrical energy have to pay for the true costs associated with their use, a head of lettuce grown conventionally immediately doubles or triples in price, and becomes extremely unattractive on the market.