While we're on the subject of things agricultural and of things covered by just about everyone long before today, there is Pasona O2, a subterranean farm cultivated inside a former bank vault beneath a high rise building in one of Tokyo's business districts.
Though walled in from sunlight, weather and geology, it's unbelievably verdant. Tomatoes, lettuces, strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables, as well as flowers and herbs, are grown in an area about 1,000 square meters. There is even a terraced rice paddy.
This is all done, by the way, in a very hi-tech fashion. Computers control the temperature and light, which in this case is artificially generated by LEDs, halide lamps and sodium vapor lamps.
Carbon dioxide, we read, is delivered by spraying.
Understandably, people have wondered what the energy requirement is for these “plant factories,” worried that a basement greenhouse might be too inefficient for a wider application.
Of course, any highly unsustainable demand for energy can easily be offset by drilling miles deep into Japan's tectonic landscape to generate hydrothermal energy.
But what exactly is the purpose of Pasona O2? Certainly it is not where cutting edge agritechnology and biotechnology research is being done. Nor does it grow its produce to sell on the market. It doesn't even pretend to be a model for future food production in Japan whose farming population continues to dwindle.
In actuality, it was built primarily as a demonstration and training facility for jobless young people who see a career in agriculture as a possibility. Though not really plugged in to the youth culture of Japan, we'll say that the presence of all that hi-tech equipment can do a long way to maintain interest.
In any case, all our sources are from over two and half years ago, and in searching for updates to use here, we didn't come across any that wasn't written in Japanese.
Perhaps you might know of some?
Cave Pharming
I just love the ultra efficient use of LED lights at this growing facility. That is really an amazing story. Our future is bright if and only if we stop letting them run us like puppets and take back our world.
At worst, it could be a Japanese way of relieving stress with a "gardening" past-time during the work day - or something...
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Er...sounds like you have been smoking just a bit too much of it lately... :-)
This farming concept is amazing all around though and can be used to grow ANYTHING.
Good thing we have a second source. From article from The Japan Times, we read: "...here in six rooms of greenhouses covering almost a square kilometer, where once bullion and bills were stacked, now vegetables, rice, herbs and flowers grow in an environment that is almost entirely chemical-free."
For what it's worth, I think "1,000 square meters" is a more believable figure.
"Your question about how much space this facility: Approximately 1000 square
meters."
The post has been revised accordingly.
I think this is a great idea and the world should follow their example.
In terms of sustainability however you might want to examine the photos in a little more detail before taking this system for the long-haul. Please make the distinction between what you are looking at that grows and what you are looking at that does not grow. The last time I checked plastic wall panels, metal racks, light bulbs, transformers, electrical cables, drop ceiling, and high-tech HV systems don't grow on trees -they come from factories. When they wear out you have to order new ones. And then there is all that you do not see. The water, the growing medium, and the fertilizer has to come from somewhere. So don't be too quick to trade the sun, the hydrosphere, and the surface open agroecosystem for an underground synthetic closed ecosystem that might unknowingly (despite that high-tech HV system) play host to an opportunistic species of the 1.5 billion year old fungal kingdom.
Mother nature is a tough bitch, and she will kick your ass if you try to break too many of her rules in the same place at the same time.
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