Batu69 Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Sunshine and seawater. That’s all a new, futuristic-looking greenhouse needs to produce 17,000 tonnes of tomatoes per year in the South Australian desert. It’s the first agricultural system of its kind in the world and uses no soil, pesticides, fossil fuels or groundwater. As the demand for fresh water and energy continues to rise, this might be the face of farming in the future. An international team of scientists have spent the last six years fine-tuning the design – first with a pilot greenhouse built in 2010; then with a commercial-scale facility that began construction in 2014 and was officially launched today. How it works Seawater is piped 2 kilometres from the Spencer Gulf to Sundrop Farm – the 20-hectare site in the arid Port Augusta region. A solar-powered desalination plant removes the salt, creating enough fresh water to irrigate 180,000 tomato plants inside the greenhouse. Scorching summer temperatures and dry conditions make the region unsuitable for conventional farming, but the greenhouse is lined with seawater-soaked cardboard to keep the plants cool enough to stay healthy. In winter, solar heating keeps the greenhouse warm. There is no need for pesticides as seawater cleans and sterilises the air, and plants grow in coconut husks instead of soil. The farm’s solar power is generated by 23,000 mirrors that reflect sunlight towards a 115-metre high receiver tower. On a sunny day, up to 39 megawatts of energy can be produced – enough to power the desalination plant and supply the greenhouse’s electricity needs. Tomatoes produced by the greenhouse have already started being sold in Australian supermarkets. Future outlook Possible solar energy shortages in winter mean that the greenhouse still needs to be hooked up to the grid for back-up, but gradual improvements to the design will eliminate any reliance on fossil fuels, says Sundrop Farm CEO Philipp Saumweber. The $200 million infrastructure makes the seawater greenhouse more expensive to set up than traditional greenhouses, but the cost will pay off long-term, says Saumweber. Conventional greenhouses are more expensive to run on an annual basis because of the cost of fossil fuels, he says. Sundrop is now planning to launch similar sustainable greenhouses in Portugal and the US, and another in Australia. Other companies are also testing pilot seawater greenhouses in desert areas of Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. “These closed production systems are very clever,” says Robert Park at the University of Sydney, Australia. “I believe that systems using renewable energy sources will become better and better and increase in the future, contributing even more of some of our foods.” However, Paul Kristiansen at the University of New England, Australia, questions the need for energy-intensive tomato farming in a desert, when there are ideal growing conditions in other parts of Australia. “It’s a bit like crushing a garlic clove with a sledgehammer,” he says. “We don’t have problems growing tomatoes in Australia.” Nevertheless, the technology may become useful in the future if climate change causes drought in once-fertile regions, Kristiansen says. “Then it will be good to have back-up plans.” Article source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nIGHT Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 I read that this thermal solar plant kills birds passing through it. Not environment friendly power generating solar power plant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luisam Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 On 11/10/2016 at 8:33 PM, Batu69 said: First farm to grow veg in a desert using only sun and seawater The title is misleading; at best, wrongly elaborated. When I first read it I thought that it's just incredible! So, of course, they are NOT using simply seawater but DESALINATED seawater; a big difference! As for the use of desert soil, it's nothing new, it has been used for agriculture ages ago by Israeli farmers. The economic factibility of this procedure, as any project, depends on the Benefits/Costs relationship. So, maybe it's not worth to grow tomatoes, but it is an interesting experimental project and probably might be used to cultivate some other more cost-effective product Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nIGHT Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Yep! That is what is called "click-bait". I agree 100% with what you said liusam ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.