If producing the food feels an inevitable dearth of high maintenance and advanced technology, then here’s something innovative to make the process simpler, easier and greener. With a purpose to make sustainable communal living mainstream, Valhalla (a group of eco-minded people) has just started designing a prototype of the farm of the future – an environmentally friendly Earthship-Inspired Greenhouse.
Although the prototype is yet to be structured with details, the off-the-grid greenhouse looks pretty promising as far as producing vegetables, fruits and fish year-around is concerned. Outlined carefully to sustain environmental stability, the prototype will basically enable people to produce eatables all throughout the year in an automated yet effortless way. However, the model will pay for itself within three to seven years from the food it produces.
To talk about the conceptualization, the greenhouse benefits largely from three advanced technologies that include Earthships, Aquaponics and Passive Solar Greenhouses. The latter helps maximize heat and solar gain by capitalizing on the cycle of the sun (even during the cold climatic conditions) while Aquaponics is a symbiotic system that integrates fish and plants. It also allows for the automation of the production of a large amount of varied food.
The embedded Earthships, on the other hand, are meticulously designed sustainable structures that enable the prototype to be 100 percent off the grid. Developed by Michael Reynolds, the technology ensures thorough efficiency by employing geothermal heating, passive ventilation, water collection and renewable energy. Concurrently, Earthships will also enable the greenhouse to render efficacy at an affordable price structure using materials that could seamlessly be recycled.
Since the exigency of green environment is increasing with each passing day, the new greenhouse prototype hopes to transform the way vegetables and fruits could be grown with little to invest in. However, Valhalla is presently busy with sketching out its plans of developing the first Earthship-inspired Greenhouse in Montreal, Canada on its 60-acre Valhalla community. Priced anywhere between $4,000 and $6,000, the farm system is anticipated to be made available to visit by the public this summer.