Timeline for To grow one $\rm m^2$ of crop plants, how many $\rm m^2$ of solar panels do you need?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
20 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| S Oct 2 at 8:47 | vote | accept | Felix Benning | ||
| Oct 1 at 11:02 | answer | added | MSalters | timeline score: 2 | |
| Feb 25, 2021 at 13:48 | answer | added | Roger V. | timeline score: 1 | |
| Feb 23, 2021 at 18:55 | review | Close votes | |||
| Feb 25, 2021 at 13:44 | |||||
| Feb 17, 2021 at 0:00 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackPhysics/status/1361827708892758017 | ||
| Feb 16, 2021 at 17:37 | vote | accept | Felix Benning | ||
| S Oct 2 at 8:47 | |||||
| Feb 16, 2021 at 13:07 | comment | added | John Doe | I see your line of thinking. CookieNinjas answer does however raise the point that panels could be placed in locations unsuitable for agriculture (e.g. deserts), thereby not "wasting" space, although still requiring it. But yes, it would make sense to evaluate if the total land use is higher. | |
| Feb 16, 2021 at 11:42 | history | edited | Felix Benning | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
more narrow focus
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| Feb 16, 2021 at 11:31 | answer | added | CookieNinja | timeline score: 4 | |
| Feb 16, 2021 at 11:27 | comment | added | Polygnome | @JohnW. You still need light, and light needs energy. If the power plant for the vertical farm needs more space then an equivalent, traditional field with the same yields then you don't actually save space. The interesting question is if solar panels + vertical farms together have less area footprint than a traditional field. Vertical farming is employed in Paris and Singapore, because space is at a premium there, but to my knowledge the energy comes from the grid. Vertical farming on a global scale only makes sense if energy production doesn't need more space than vertical farming saves. | |
| Feb 16, 2021 at 11:19 | comment | added | Felix Benning | @JohnW. But you still need to light every floor there. So the question is how many square metres of solar panels you need to light one square metre of plants. If you only need $0.25m^2$ of solar panels per $m^2$ of plants, then you could do 4 floors with solar panels on top as a self contained system. If you need more solar panels, then you would have to place them somewhere else than on the roof and then you wouldn't really save land would you? I mean that is exactly the point of the question. Do you actually save land area? Or just seem to save it before considering electricity generation | |
| Feb 16, 2021 at 11:14 | comment | added | John Doe | Are you also considering that vertical farms are not single floors, but often several layers of plants? I think one attractive aspect of vertical farms is the smaller total area footprint in countries with sparse/expensive land (e.g. Japan, Netherlands), because you can build several farms on top of each other, so to speak. | |
| Feb 16, 2021 at 11:13 | comment | added | Felix Benning | @PM2Ring Would focusing on plants for agriculture help? I guess there is often a differentiation between leafy greens, vegetables and energy rich food (grain/rice/potatos) in vertical farming. So that would still leave multiple categories. | |
| Feb 16, 2021 at 11:05 | history | edited | Urb | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
edited title
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| Feb 16, 2021 at 11:02 | comment | added | Felix Benning | @Polygnome sure, but this is more of an abstract - "is this a sensible thing to strive for in the future?" type of question, and ideally we want to get rid of any non renewable plants including nuclear in the relative near future. Fusion might change things again, but until then this seems quite relevant | |
| Feb 16, 2021 at 10:58 | history | edited | Felix Benning | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 78 characters in body
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| Feb 16, 2021 at 10:52 | comment | added | Polygnome | Intriguing question. But do most vertical plant farms actually use solar power, or do they use other electricity sources, e.g. nuclear? If they are powered by electricity from the grid, they'll get a mix with only a small portion of solar energy. | |
| Feb 16, 2021 at 10:47 | history | edited | Qmechanic♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
deleted 64 characters in body; edited title
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| Feb 16, 2021 at 10:29 | review | First posts | |||
| Feb 16, 2021 at 10:33 | |||||
| Feb 16, 2021 at 10:26 | history | asked | Felix Benning | CC BY-SA 4.0 |