Aquaculture to be powered by renewable energy.

July 14, 2008

Aquaponics
A team of engineers and university leaders in New York is working towards a soil-less, climate-controlled, multi-level greenhouse, that produces fish and vegetables, in addition to its own heat and electricity. This type of farm would seem no more out of place downtown than a bank would be.
Engineering firm O’Brien & Gere, of DeWitt, Morrisville State College and the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry are working hard to make this farm a reality.

Hydroponics is nothing new, growing plants without soil has been taking place for hundreds of years. Aquaponics, attaching a fish tank to the hydroponics system, to feed the plants, and filter the water, is nothing new either. So why all the commotion about this new system?

The trick to this proposed system is a small biomass power plant attached to the system. Heat and electricity from the power plant can be used to heat the fish tanks, and cool the greenhouse air in the summer. This would help with one of the biggest drawbacks to an aquaponics system; power consumption. Another benefit to this is the CO2 produced by the power plant can be used to enhance the plant growth and grow algae in tanks in the green house. The algae could be used as fish food or as fuel for the power plant.

For some this idea seems to too good to be true “They said it looked like a Rube Goldberg machine,” said Terry Brown, chairman and chief executive officer of O’Brien & Gere.

If the power consumption issue can be addressed aquaponics may be the new way to go. It allows food to be grown closer to their destination, letting the produce be harvested closer to its sale date.
Once a smaller test system has been setup and proven successful, the group seeks an investor for approcimately 1.5 million dollars to get a full sized system operational. “We’re very confident at O’Brien & Gere, with our engineering capabilities, that we can engineer this,” Brown said. “If Morrisville and ESF can provide the biological side of this integration, we’ll hit a home run.”

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Written by Matt · Filed Under Featured