
Farmers using hydroponics and LEDs to grow underground to harvest first crop - herendin
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/13/the-innovators-london-air-raid-shelters-sprout-a-growing-concern
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scott_karana
How exactly is this innovative? The article doesn't make it clear what aspect
is an "innovation" over others in the same field. These people don't seem to
be first to use LEDs, or grow microgreens...

EDIT: the title of the submission has changed since I wrote this.

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CyberDildonics
I don't think these guys are the first, but UV LEDs might be fairly new. They
allow very much less electricity yet give plants an optimal frequency of
light.

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Lerc
What are the possibilities for this in areas that are far too hot/dry for
crops? Underground growing retains water and can be more easily temperature
controlled.

Given that photosynthesis does not use the full spectrum, how efficient do
LEDs and solar panels have to be before you have a net gain on solar energy
converted into photosynthesis?

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tambourine_man
I thought this was about harvesting in space.

Replacing the sun here seems inefficient.

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tlholaday
Light from the sun is broad spectrum. Photosynthesis uses only part of the
spectrum. In a charmed world, you could power LEDs using energy from the
unused spectrum, and be more efficient than sunlight.

Edit:

Turns out, there is a Y-Combinator company making agricultural LEDs:

[https://blog.ycombinator.com/transcend-yc-s15-makes-extra-
ef...](https://blog.ycombinator.com/transcend-yc-s15-makes-extra-efficient-
led-lights-for-the-indoor-farms-of-the-future)

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refurb
Yes, but the sun is free. It's not like plants grow poorly in sunlight.

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WalterSear
They do grow poorly in sunlight in plenty of places. For example, places where
water need to be conserved.

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ghshephard
Good preparation for space exploration, moon/mars colonies, where energy might
be abundant, but surface access and water will be resources in short supply.

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dekhn
There is absolutely no way this will be commercially viable or environmentally
sustainable. I think the real business opportunity is finding out why high end
chefs are using 48-hour produce- that sounds like a supply problem and there
should be no real supply problem for such greens (these are luxury items with
a known level of demand), since they grow natively in the area.

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xufi
Very interesting. I can't wait to see what this brings. Especially with the
hydroponics idea of not needing to use soil.

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tectec
Hydroponics is already very common in above-ground vegetable greenhouses.

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aaron695
TL;DR; The novelty of plants grown underground, plus the appearance of extra
freshness = $ from an entertainment point of view.

Which is cool, people love the idea of doing things underground. It
unfortunately almost never makes practical sense but neither does most
entertaining things.

