Humans burn calories at a rate greater than 100W. Photosynthesis, in the best conditions (algae) converts only about 6% of insolation to biomass. The plants typically used in vertical gardening are more like 1% efficient at generating biomass, and of that biomass only about 20% is actually edible calories. If you live in the desert southwest of the US, you would require an area 500m^2 to gather enough insolation for one person -- and that's assuming they are strict vegetarians. The year-round insolation of places like Sweeden is less than half that of the desert southwest US so it would be more like 1000m^2. Remember that is 1000m^2 per person of south-facing window, and we haven't even started on protein requirements for non-vegetarian diets.
On Sun, Feb 19, 2012 at 6:21 AM, Jouni Valkonen <[email protected]>wrote: > Hello, > > First multistory vertical farm is being build into Linköping! It has in > sun facing side a vertical farm and dark side is for offices. This is the > way to go! Vertical farms may be initially costly, but they will get > eventually cheaper, when technology evolves. > > Imagine this map to be wholly green: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_land_use_map.png > > I hope that this full scale pilot project will open people's eyes for the > future technological possibilities. > > –Jouni > > > Växthuset skjuter i höjden > http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/bygg/byggartiklar/article3406014.ece > > > Google translated version: > > Greenhouse soar > > By: Charlotta von > Schultz<http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=sv&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://www.nyteknik.se/ovrigt/redaktionen/charlotta_von_schultz/&usg=ALkJrhh3ZCJgH1HcDaFm6hr9Z9_SFlRAaA> > > Published February 10, 2012 14:5545 > comments<http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=sv&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/bygg/byggartiklar/article3406014.ece&usg=ALkJrhiNU2eWWWC5lebMRxqqSRuLB-Vp7A#comments> > <http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=sv&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/bygg/byggartiklar/article3406014.ece&usg=ALkJrhiNU2eWWWC5lebMRxqqSRuLB-Vp7A#latest-comment> > > *Locally grown vegetables are reaching new heights. Now we build a 54 > meter high greenhouse in Linköping.* > > http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyteknik.se%2Fnyheter%2Fbygg%2Fbyggartiklar%2Farticle3406014.ece >
