revi
gopher
Posts: 47
|
Post by revi on Sept 2, 2012 4:06:13 GMT -5
I have heard about new cultivation processes are under research in which plants are grown in enclosed chamber in controlled environment i.e. have more carbon-di-oxide inside then found in atmosphere in general. But, I don't have much idea about that. I am requesting others to give me some basic idea and sources so that I can study that.
Thanks in advance.
|
|
|
|
Post by castanea on Sept 2, 2012 9:29:21 GMT -5
|
|
revi
gopher
Posts: 47
|
Post by revi on Sept 2, 2012 9:59:17 GMT -5
Thanks! But the question is whether the same techniques can also be applied to staple food grains like rice, wheat, potato, vegetables etc. Anybody knows any such examples?
I am also interested to know details of that technique. To be true, I want to add something to that and my something that will be my own creation. I am thinking about combining carbon enhancing and aeroponics together in which the roots and the top of the plant can be kept in different environment. The roots would be kept in an oxygen rich environment for enhanced growth while the top green part will be kept in carbon-di-oxide enriched environment. I am also curious to know whether by this process, plant life cycle can be shortened i.e. we can get yields more quickly and yields can be increased or not.
|
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 2, 2012 11:56:02 GMT -5
Thanks! But the question is whether the same techniques can also be applied to staple food grains like rice, wheat, potato, vegetables etc. Anybody knows any such examples? There are some commercial factories and wineries that use the waste CO2 and heat from their factories to grow greenhouse plants. I figure that they do it mostly for carbon-offset-credits. Mostly it's used for high value out-of-season crops like salad greens and tomatoes. At the going rate of $250 per acre for grain, there is no return on investment for growing grain in a greenhouse. With today's high efficiency furnaces that emit close to room temperature air out the side of a building, it might make sense for the home gardener to pipe that output into a greenhouse. |
|
revi
gopher
Posts: 47
|
Post by revi on Sept 2, 2012 20:02:54 GMT -5
Furnaces are mostly used at night while the CO2 will be needed during daytime. Do you want to mean that without carbon credit, growing crops with controlled. environment is commercially not feasible i.e. cannot compete with conventional farming at present. If yes, what's the main reason?
|
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 2, 2012 21:56:14 GMT -5
According to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture. The cost of equipment for using waste flue gas is around $8,000 per acre. That cost is small compared to the average cost of a quarter million dollars to build a one acre greenhouse. Burning fuel costs about $5000 per acre for equipment, and around $7000 to $15000 per acre per year depending on which fuel is burned. |
|
|
|
Post by davida on Sept 2, 2012 22:14:42 GMT -5
Furnaces are mostly used at night while the CO2 will be needed during daytime. Do you want to mean that without carbon credit, growing crops with controlled. environment is commercially not feasible i.e. cannot compete with conventional farming at present. If yes, what's the main reason? Revi, Welcome to the forum. Off the topic a little but I am finding very interesting is that some farmers are working on cooling the CO2 from the tractor exhaust and putting it in the ground, especially during planting. Fertilizer costs are supposed to be reduced by 70 percent. The major problem has been researching how to cool the CO2 quickly enough. David |
|
revi
gopher
Posts: 47
|
Post by revi on Sept 3, 2012 20:50:51 GMT -5
David,
I think it should be done in a much larger scale. On a programme in Discovery channel, I have seen a machinery that can suck CO2 from atmosphere and store it in cylinders. IMO, such machines should be installed in large cities and the cylinders should be supplied to farmers. If it found to be NOT commercially profitable enough, then incentives should be given to them by collecting green tax and carbon credit from others.
The machine, even with electricity coming from thermal power plants, can capture 20 times carbon than it consumes in the process. If electricity from solar panels and other such sources are used, the carbon generation by the process would become nearly zero.
|
|
