
PlantLab Revolutionizes Farming: No Sunlight or Windows, Less Water, Better Food - ph0rque
http://singularityhub.com/2011/08/14/dutch-plantlab-revolutionizes-farming-no-sunlight-no-windows-less-water-better-food/
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jdietrich
Let me think...

    
    
      Total solar irradiance on earth = 1.336 kW/m2
      Leds @ 15% efficiency = 8.9kW/m2
      Lettuce takes 8 weeks to mature
      8 weeks * 7 days * 12 hours * 8.9 kW = 5.9mWh
      Wholesale electricity costs ~$100/mWh
    

Nearly $600 for two dozen heads of lettuce? Somebody tell me I'm out by an
order of magnitude, please.

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bpd1069
Conventional farming has many costs such as pesticides, fertilizer, fuel for
farming equipment, transportation costs (fuel), and don't forget land.

Allowing food to be produced anywhere with limited resources is amazing and
with 7 billion mouths to feed agriculture needs some major innovation. It
hasn't fundamentally changed since the dawn of human civilization.

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alex_c
My gut feeling is that it's hard to see how this can be efficient on a large
scale. The 10% water is impressive, but it's weighed against:

\- cost of buildings

\- cost of climate control for the growing areas

\- cost of electricity, for the artificial light and all the gadgetry needed
to keep it running

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VladRussian
couple comments comes to mind:

\- great and obvious [ once somebody's come up with it ] solution to decrease
energy consumption of indoor plantations : "Plants don’t want the green
spectrum, and many of the wavelengths just heat the leaves and evaporate
water. Instead PlantLab gives their plants light from red and blue LEDs, ..."

\- why Dutch? what is so special about their situation that stimulated the
innovation? :)

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ph0rque
The Dutch seem to be the leaders in high-tech food production. I've read
somewhere that they are net exporters of food.

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Myrth
They need to make their technology public before Monstanto bombs them.

