Written by John Vibes at trueactivist.com
A non-profit organization called “Roots Up” has designed a greenhouse that collects moisture from the air, which then is used to water the plants.
This new design can help farmers in areas where the lack of proper temperature and rainfall make it difficult to grow crops.
As the designers of the greenhouse explain on heir website:
The greenhouse traps hot air and humidity during the heat of the day, creating a better atmosphere for plant growth and then at night, a rope can be pulled that opens up a latch at the top of the greenhouse that lets cool air in, eventually reaching the dew point and creating condensation. The water droplets are channeled into a collection cistern and can be used for drinking water or for irrigation. In times of rain, the design can also be used as a rainwater collector.
Roots Up plans to launch the project in areas of Ethiopia, where droughts are common and farming is difficult.
The video below shows a graphical representation of how the greenhouse works:
The technologies of survival will dominate the era of global warming. Surely those technologies deserve the support of the governments of the world.
I agree that the governments SHOULD support it, IF it actually works as advertised, but you and I both know 99% of governments don’t have the funds because they spend most of their budgets on war..killing, not HELPING mankind like they should.
I’m no engineer or designer of things, but the thing seems flawed to me. Heat rises, and in the desert, a greenhouse’s internal temp could reach WELL above 150F, and I don’t know many plant foods that could survive that…period. And to open the top to let cooler air in? You’d open the top to let the heat OUT, and vents should be on the BOTTOM, where the cooler air is and to allow it in. So much just doesn’t sound…well, SOUND about this. And how are these people supposed to be able to afford one? Trade some dying cattle or a camel? Lastly, in Mali, it hasn’t rained in the past two years. I think it’d be better suited there, that is of course if they take dying cattle as payment. Nice High School project though.
Don’t make any sense. Vertical Farming is the future.
I’m just throwing this out there, but as a desert dweller I know for a fat that the dirt plays a huge roll in the way crops grow in the desert. If I use the natural dirt nothing will grow no matter how well maintained or fed. A green house will not make a difference. The trick to getting crops to grow in the desert is replacing the soil but that gets expensive fast.
Nice try but… i agree with Chucks comment. Instead of a greenhouse in the desert you might want to use shade-cloth house to protect the plants from cooking in the heat…
And if you google-up Geoff Lawton “Greening the Desert” you see there are other low-tech low-cost design techniques we can use to greenify the desert, including swales, pioneer plants, de-salinating the soil and creating fertile soil with biomass/compost/mulch.