natural lighting for vertical farming
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Model for lighting between racks in vertical farming
intro
Vertical farming or vertical agriculture, consists of a vertical growth of the cultivation space, doubling, tripling or even five times the cultivable area, and as addition this technique allows the saving of water resources up to 99% compared to traditional agriculture since the water can be reused (hydroponic or aeroponic systems), the level of evaporation is reduced, the level of oxygenation of roots increases, by so the growth of the plant is much faster than with other substrates 1. In general greenhouses, however, seldom use these vertical farming systems and techniques, where there are good reasons for this, which on of them is the limitation of the amount of natural light reaching crops placed on lower levels, forcing growers to rely more heavily on supplemental lighting, which in turn increases production costs of vertical farming systems 2. But there is a greenhouse which is also a vertical farming, whose name is Shockingly Fresh in Offenham, England, where it can produce four-times the yield compared with regular farming, while using much less energy than other vertical farms, since it is using only natural light for photosynthesis and heat, and not a closed system like others 3.
And about the light source, natural light is light that is generated naturally, the common source of which is the Sun, which is as opposed to artificial light, which is typically produced by electrical appliances such as lamps 4. At least nine strategies for optimizing light in vertical farms are available, where using natural light is one of them 5. For more complex and large structures like skyscraper farms modeling natural light availability is required 6.
This post is triggered by an offer of experimenting of producing diffused light for vertical farming racks in certain arrangement 7, which the purpose of it is to distribute natural or artificial light evenly 8. One way to make it, instead of using diffusion filter, a diffusion panel seems more practical and there is information to produce it 9. The panel must also match the vertical systems, since there are some variations available 10.
notes
Andreu Serra, “Virex Vertical Grow Rack Solutions”, Virex - Holticulture Led Solutions, 29 Mar 2021, url https://virextech.com/2021/03/29/virex-vertical-grow-rack-solutions/?lang=en [20240428]. ↩︎
Rob Eddy, “Grow Up: Bringing Vertical Farming Systems To Greenhouses”, CEAg World, 5 Mar 2024, url https://www.ceagworld.com/greenhouse-produce/grow-up-bringing-vertical-farming-systems-to-greenhouses/ [20240428]. ↩︎
Andy Corbley, “UK’s Largest Vertical Farm that Uses Only Sunlight Begins First Harvest”, Good News Network, 28 Oct 2021, url https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/shockingly-freshs-vertical-farm-uses-much-less-energy-thanks-to-natural-light/ [20240428]. ↩︎
Designing Buildings contributors, “Natural light”, Designing Buildings, 5 Oct 2022, url https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Natural_light [20240428]. ↩︎
Petr Kirpeit, “Optimizing Light in Vertical Farms: 9 Strategies for Better Efficiency”, Indoorfarming Jobs, 26 Feb 2023, url https://indoorfarming-jobs.eu/blog/optimizing-light-in-vertical-farms-strategies-for-better-efficiency/ [20240428]. ↩︎
Michael Eaton, Kale Harbick, Timothy Shelford, Neil Mattson, “Modeling Natural Light Availability in Skyscraper Farms”, Agronomy, vol 11, no 9, p 1684, Sep 2021, url https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11091684. ↩︎
Ramadhani Eka Putra, “Private communication”, WhatsApp call, 24 Apr 2024. ↩︎
Editorial Team, “What is Light Diffusion?”, GoPhotonics, 8 Aug 2023, url https://www.gophotonics.com/community/what-is-light-diffusion [20240428]. ↩︎
Martin Pitonak, “Make your own diy diffusion panels for still life photography”, Welpix, 24 Apr 2023, url https://welpix.com/make-your-own-diy-diffusion-panels-for-still-life-photography/ [20240428]. ↩︎
Andrew M. Beacham, Laura Vickers, Jim Monaghan, “Vertical farming: a summary of approaches to growing skywards”, The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, vol 94, no 3, p 1-7, Feb 2019, url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14620316.2019.1574214. ↩︎