Posts Tagged: vertical farming

17
Jul

2011

Sunday Morning Statshot with Nick Chu: Urban Vertical Farming

Proponents argue urban farming can reduce carbon emissions, but are growing crops in a city a baaaaa-d idea to start with? Photo by flickr user twenty_questions

A quick look at some of the things that make Urban Vertical Farming in your city work (or not):

Average distance ingredient in a meal in US is grown away from home: 1500 miles

Amount of energy global industrial food system accounts for in worldwide fossil fuel consumption: 21%

Number of farmer markets in US in 1993: 1755

Number of farmer markets in US in 2002: 3100

Percentage of food sales: 0.3%

Number of times more carbon dioxide released by transport of conventional produce versus regional/local produce: 5-17

Projected population by 2050: 9.5 billion

Additional land required to feed extra 2.7 billion people: Land mass of Brazil

Percentage increase in food production required by 2050: 70

Potential solution: Vertical farming

Numbers of acres of food a 30 story vertical farm can produce: 2400

Number of people a 19 story vertical farm could feed: 50,000

Number of acres of wheat in US: 53 million

Number of times more electricity needed to produce a year’s worth of US wheat via vertical farming: 8x total electricity generated in the US

For corn: 40x total electricity generated

Monetary worth of a farmer’s land per square foot: $1

Skyscraper: $200

Tons of carbon dioxide produced per US household due to food consumption: 8.9

Percentage of total carbon dioxide released due to food delivery: 4.5%

Number of days in jail for planting veggies in your front yard: 90



Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.