Due to changing of climate which result in unpredictable weather patterns, the exponential rise of human population and consumption of earth resources rate surpasses the replenishing rate has resulted that the world needs to dispose unsustainable conventional farming methods and turn to modern farming concept such as vertical farming. Despite that, to managed an ecosystem inside a building would required many expert or at least an expert system which is lacking in the current market. The following of this section describes how severe each problem is.
1.2.1 Changing of Climate and Unpredictable Weather Patterns
In the past few years it can be observed that the climate pattern is becoming less and less predictable. Major cities are amongst the one taking the major beating from these occurrences. Back in June 2013, The Star once reported hazy and hot conditions have lead to high sales of air-conditioners and purifiers in Malaysia. This is a simple observable example of alteration in human behavior as a direct consequence of climate change. According to Hunt and Watkiss (2011), they have identified 5 major climate risks that cities are exposed to: which are sea-level rise, extreme events, health, energy use, and water availability. Out of five of these risks, extreme events and water availability are major challenges to conventional farming methods. Extreme events such as droughts, heat-wave, wind-storms, and flood events make farming outdoor increasingly difficult, impairing food security in major cities (Hunt and Watkiss, 2011). Water availability risk includes decreasing source of water from underground and surface as result from reduced precipitation and increase of water as temperature increase further pushes the need to conser...
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... in the field of hydroponic systems.
b. Identifying the set of facts, rules and principles of experts applied in growing a specific plant.
c. Identifying a benchmark results for good growth and good harvest from a hydroponic system without the help of an ES.
d. Converting these facts, rules and principles into a set of fuzzy logic to be read by an ES.
2. Phase 2 – Testing of ES in simplified hydroponic system
a. Construct 3 storey simplified version of vertical farm that uses hydroponic system with pH, temperature, humidity and water level control.
b. Feature Implementation of Expert’s Recommendation Option for beginner users*
c. Modifying and testing different versions of ES and obtain the results from each different version to be used in a comparative study.
d. To answer the question, “Is conventional greenhouse ES applicable to a vertical farm concept building?”
As Jensen points out, farming and industry accounts for the vast majority of total water usage in the world (477). The increasingly scarce resource is a necessary ingredient when growing food. Technology continuously improves to make it easier for farmers to grow crops while using less water. Scientists at the University of Georgia utilize what they term “variable rate irrigation” to let farmers automate the current systems of irrigation to water only the crops that need it (Gies). This is an example of retrofitting current farms, but there is a new way of farming coming to cities that reuses practically all of its water and stakes claim much less acreage in the process. The future of agriculture belongs to vertical and urban farming. These types of farms reduce the use of water, chemicals (such as pesticides, herbicides and fungicides), soil and space (The Economist). These farms are so cutting edge that they are mostly in the experimental stages. Firms like Famgro farms are testing “stackable” farming systems that can scale with demand, even further reducing waste. Famgro’s stackable farms are ideal for cityscapes where land is at a premium; furthermore, reaping the added benefit of being in close proximity to the customers that they serve. Customers will enjoy high quality, fresh produce at only a slightly
Besides being able to produce food at a faster rate, technology has helped improve the health of multiple foods. As has been said previously, soybeans are currently used to create oil; however, this was only possible with improvements to technology to help extract this oil from the beans. Besides beans, leafy greens also have improvements in health. A new process known as aeroponics, a newer form of hydroponics, uses mist to provide nutrients to the plants (Gilpin, “10 Foods That Technology Has Transformed.”). This reduces water consumption. Since aeroponics occurs indoors, pesticides are not used and since the plants are grown in water rather than soil, contaminated manure is no longer a
Although considered faster and cheaper, this approach to providing other alternative resources to food is slowly but significantly drying up our plant and is compromising human health. Because of the increa...
Today, located in Sonoma County, CA, General Hydroponics sits on ten acres, and consists of a warehouse and production factory measuring 45,000 square feet, complete with a state-of-the-art industrial space, including a multi-million dollar greenhouse roof top. Located inside is a wide array of plants and vegetables, used for testing systems and nutrients. Loca...
With the rapid growth of our global population pouring into the next millennium, we will witness an ever-growing hunger rate around the world. That is unless we call for a revolution on the global scale. The Green Revolution which already sprouted in the early part of the century only need to add a bit more momentum and we will see a bright future for the human race, a future without hunger and starvation ¡V hopefully.It is becoming increasingly difficult for the planet to support its overwhelming population. And since the amount of arable land available is becoming scarce, we must seek ways to dramatically improve crop yields of existing cropland.
The “Fast Plant” experiment is an observation of a plants growth over the span of twenty-eight days. The objective is to observe how plants grow and use their resources throughout the span of their life. In our lab we observed the Brassica rapa, a herbaceous plant in the mustard family which has a short cycle which makes it a perfect plant to observe in this experiment. Like other plants the Brassica rapa must use the resources in the environment to create energy to complete itʻs life cycle and reproduce. By observing the plant it is easy to see in what organ or function the plant is using itʻs energy and resources and if overtime the resources switch to other part of the plants. By conducting this experiment we are able to observe where and how plants allocate their resources throughout their life by harvesting plants at different points in their life.
Green roofs, also known as living roofs, eco roofs, roof terraces or roof gardens, are a roof design of a building that is partly or entirely enclosed with vegetation and growing medium, therefore, the roof is planted over a waterproofing membrane and it has extra layers, for instance roof fence and drainage. He and Jim, (2010) states that green roof require the making of vegetated space on the top of artificial structures design. They can help to reduce the thermal properties of buildings to produce cooling energy conservation and increase social comforts. There are two main types of Green Roof-Intensive and Extensive.
that it 's in due to human activities.. First with the vertical farming, “crops can be produced all
Aquaponics is the combination of both aquaculture, which is fish farming, and hydroponics, which is farming without the use of soil. In aquaponics, plants form a symbiotic relationship with fish allowing for fish to get nutrients from plants, and plants get a supply clean water from the fish. With aquaponics, the plants and fish can grow faster than average due to naturally fortified water from the fish, and nutrient-rich water from the plants. Aquaponics also allows for two types of farming happening at the same time, fish and plants, if the system the fish are in is large enough. Furthermore, aquaponics allows for plants to grow anywhere, without arable land. Many countries are not able to meet the demand for food because of the climate or
Improvements in the socio-economic patterns in India, China, Brazil and few other developing countries have opened new channels & opportunities for precision agriculture in these countries (Mondal, P. and Basu, M., 2009)”. India is a land of agriculture with large numbers of crops cultivated and the major pulses like wheat, pulses, rice, cotton, maize within top 10 in the world. However, when you take into consideration the ranking on quality wise it does not reach high. Although crops are being grown in India, The ratio of fertilizers used per area and the nutrition needs of the plants are not met. It is almost 3-5 times lesser to what is used in developed countries. With PA, you can achieve this needs of the plants, but studying the crop, soil and terrains. With the recent advancement in ISRO (Indian Satellite Research Organization) launching GPS and the IT revolution has changed the Indian environment making inroads for new scopes in farm sectors. There is also a misinterpretation that these technologies cannot be used in small scale farms. There are few technologies like chlorophyll meter (SPAD) and leaf colour chart (LCC) hand held portable devices to determine the timing of crop and the nutrient content. Government has been supportive in encouraging growers in small community to use GIS systems, and internet to understand the
Many scientific studies also show increases in the intensity, duration, and extent of droughts, higher atmospheric temperatures, warmer sea surface temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and diminishing glaciers and snowpack. The bottom line is that causes of climate change, such as greenhouse gas emissions, will have to be minimized if people want to do as much as possible to solve the water crisis. Works Cited Water demand management: the case of Zaragoza, Spain Web 25 Nov. 2014. http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/swm_cities_zaragoza_2010/pdf/final_report_swm_cities.pdf.
Climate change is serious problem in the world. The major problem caused by climate change was having a severe influence in the coastal areas. The UN (2006) report that more than 50 per cent people live in cities at present, and this number will steady grow in the next few year. Climate change is due to increasing car exhausts and factory emissions that lead to global greenhouse gas emission to rise sharply. For this reason, the earth has a number of environmental problems, such as the sea level rise, extreme events and unreasonable energy use. This essay will explain some major problems of climate change, and analyze the impacts of economic and environmental. The essay argues climate change caused by human beings and rapid urban development.
Climate change is one of the major issues surfacing on Earth over the past century. The earth’s temperature has increased over the years, leading to detrimental effects on the economic and life sources of people, especially that of agricultural production and livestock. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2014), defined climate change as a change in global climate patterns apparent from the mid late 20th century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007) predicts that by 2100 the increase in global average surface temperature may be between 1.8° C and 4.0° C. With increases of 1.5° C to 2.5° C, approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species are expected to be at risk of extinction. Moreover, the IPCC (2007) purported that climate change has severe consequences for food security in developing countries.
Climate change leads to some potential impacts on human and ecosystem that threatens our daily life. It affects us in various aspects including water, ecosystems, food, coasts and health etc. In the food aspect, some people may suggest that food production and plants can be ris...
Since 1960s both minimum and maximum temperatures have exhibited a rising trend; with minimum increasing by a range of 0.7-2.0 degrees Celsius and maximum by 0.2-1.3 degree Celsius varying by region and season. Notable also is variability of rainfall patterns such as below normal rainfall in the long rains season and more during the short rainfall season, some regions have recorded more intense rainfall and downpours that have resulted to floods and infrastructural impairments. Extinction or near extinction of flora and fauna, changes in flowering and maturity patterns in crops are all attributable to climate change. These changes have had and are expected to have far reaching impacts on the economic sectors of the economy. Some of the expected sectoral impacts are discussed