Ftscustm
Member
Agreed Ftscustm, we love innovation here. What I personally don't like hence my posts, is to attach it to biased numbers in order to sell it. We should be able to like it for what it is, a prototype, and not because it actually make 10,000 lettuce heads, which are 8 times lighter than actual "classic" lettuce heads, if you know what i mean
Hey sprinkl, I guess they gotta make some $$$, which they wouldn' t if they were selling a greenhouse that actually use the sun as you said !
Hey OGEvilgenius, thanks for your comment
I am indeed very aware of the energy needed to make solar cells.
It is quite a bit, talking about immense, well I don' t really agree with that word.
As far as I know, at the moment the energy payback for a solar panel is about 2-3 years.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032112006478
It means that it will take 2 to 3 years for the solar panel on your roof to return the energy that was used to make it. Then, it is "free" energy from the sun for the rest of the life of the panel, which should be about 15 years minimum.
In no case I was advocating its uses in that indoor farm case, which I stated earlier is a total waste of energy, I was answering to the OP which was asking about solar, to develop why it is not really appropriate in that case.
I agree with you, solar is not the answer to our energy concerns, the answer will lie in stopping wasting so much energy. Then maybe, we can use a combination of renewable energies to sustain ourselves So for instance, let' s stop thinking that it is ok to use 12 kWh to produce a kg of lettuce, or to use the sun to transform its energy to electricity than re transform it into lighting for growing large scale, with all the losses involved with each step to transform the energy, and the embeded energy required to manufacture the appliances needed for this "farm" .
We are on the same page, I just need to explain my thinking a little further: Of my experience of the Japanese people, in particular in Tokyo and that was about 25 years ago now; is ancient knowledge is unlocked there, informing an understanding of the world through science at its very cutting edge. Japan has a massive population and very little land mass. People sleep in rooms just like the lettuce. The most organised and respectful culture I have had the pleasure of meeting. To overcome the impossible, you must first start with the improbable, I feel. To convert an abandoned Earth killer into purpose and hope takes more strength than one man, or woman: United strength, just likes ours here at I.C.
What I am saying is that this cost, the planet can tolerate in transition to something better..