Environmental Sustainablity
Food transportation
Food travels thousands of miles to reach urban consumers, adding to traffic congestion, air pollution and carbon emissions.
The average item of food in the United States travels at least 1500 miles. Gasoline can account for up to half the value of a head lettuce or pound of tomatoes.
Farming within urban areas removes the need for lengthy transportation. Zero food miles is great for the environment.
Greenhouse gas emissions
Collectively, agriculture is responsible for about a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Some agricultural sectors are, of course, worse emitters than others. Some greenhouses are heavy emitters of carbon dioxide gases, because of the energy needed to heat in the winter – typically done using a lot of fossil fuels.
BrightFarm greenhouses are capable of capturing waste heat from the host building. This allows our systems to use no additional fossil fuel for heating, or only a small amount. We also use low energy cooling systems. When available, we generate power for cooling by installing solar panels.
Land & water
Modern agriculture is the largest consumer of land and water on the planet. As populations increase and diets improve, our land and water resources are becoming ever more strained. Thus, according to a United Nations study, we will not have enough food to feed the earth’s population by 2050 if we do not learn to farm using less water and less land.
BrightFarm greenhouses grow produce with 20 times less land compared with conventional field agriculture. This is because we use greenhouses, which can grow all year round, and because hydroponic techniques are more space efficient than field agriculture.
The recirculating hydroponic techniques we use operate with up to 10 times less water than conventional field agriculture per pound, making this the most water efficient form of agriculture currently in use.
Protecting rivers
Recirculating irrigation systems used within the greenhouse not only reduce water usage overall, they also stop fertilizers from leaving the irrigation system. Our systems are able to produce vegetables with no harmful agricultural runoff.
Recover rainwater
We design our greenhouses so the roof captures rainfall. In many urban areas, enough rain falls on the greenhouse to supply all or most of its water needs. This saves on water bills and also helps reduce storm water runoff.
