Just stumbled on your channel. Great quality! I have one request though: PLEASE list sources from which you take the numbers / on which you base your analysis! This is absolutely imperative for any analytic/popsci/science journalism channel.
Exa Cognition I find this channel amazing the amount of research and time you spend to make such a detailed, educated, and good understanding of these concepts I really love all of it. It doesn't matter how long ur videos upload these videos are very interesting
I just discovered this channel today. Looking at things like subscriber count and video watched I think your first vertical farm video either is trending or is close to being trending among people who watch science videos. I think you are doing a great job. Hope to see some activity soon. Good luck.
your energy math would have been enormously favorable if you had used nuclear energy instead of solar. just saying. if Fusion becomes a thing between 2030 & 2040, more than half of this video will be pointless.
I'm glad you like it! I feel I've got a long way to go, but I've spent quite a lot of time trying to improve the quality of the videos, so it's good that it's worked.
@@ExaCognition hi. I loved this video. I was wandering this days if vertical farming combined with insect agriculture could solve the world demand for health food(proteins, fats and carbs) without doing the damage that the current agribusiness is doing to the world. Could you make a series about insect agriculture. I think it would fit with this topic. Thanks for reading(if you read it)
@@ExaCognition You seem to know alot about vertical farming and answer the right questions. I'd like to ask you some additional questions regarding vertical farming. Do you have an email adress or other social media where I can pm you?
This is an incredible series. Energy dense, well structured and engaging. The most informative introduction I have seen to vertical farming on RUclips! I have a background in both Biology and engineering and you have made me seriously considering moving into this field given the opportunities available. You obviously researched this thoroughly, have you made your Bibliography/References/Calculations (With assumptions) available?
Sources are understandably highly requested, I was initially intending to release them with the video but the calculations and data sheets were a mess, so wanted tidy them up first that that it was easier to follow. I never got round to actually updating it though. Given this series has had a fair bit of traction recently, I think it's important for me to get it fixed even though I'm fairly short on time. I might start with some of the key stuff and try and add a few things to it daily, so at least the most useful stuff is available soon. Otherwise it could be months before I get the time to actually work through it all.
@@ExaCognition That sounds reasonable, especially i you're pushed for time. I imagine the series will continue to gain traction given the relative quality of the videos on this topic to others on YT. Both the data sheets and sources would solidify the professionalism of your content. Keep up the good work!
Nuclear energy is also worth considering for vertical farming. It is already the second cheapest source of energy right behind hydroelectric or "dams" and is also expected to decrease in cost as investment continues to build around the world.
I simplified the energy section for this video, my next video series is on the future of energy and I will be looking at nuclear as part of that series. I focused on solar for this video because the scope of the analysis is very specific, looking at the first viable circumstances. If we are allowed to chose our location, then solar is almost certainly going to be the cheapest source of electricity, since we can chose an relatively equatorial location with high solar irradiance and low seasonal variance. This minimizes the storage challenge and produces the cheapest possible energy. With that said, if we are talking about general energy solutions for plant factories using electricity grids worldwide, then we can't necessarily look to solar as a cheap an effective solution. Nuclear energy has a lot of benefits from a grid perspective, clean, stable, relatively cheap, works more or less anywhere. So I expect many plant factories to be at least partially supplied by nuclear energy (some already are).
@@ExaCognition That makes a lot of sense solar definitely is a useful in many circumstances. I love how well researched all your videos have been so far and am exited for the future of the channel. Its really refreshing to see a video on vertical farming that sticks to the facts
I recently watched a cool video about nuclear. The costs of building a safe nuclear power plant are very high up front, and have to be made up over a long period of time. You go into a lot of debt to get it going. Natural gas ones are cheaper to build so are getting built more. whether thats good or bad i cant say, but i never knew the staggering cost to get a plant up and running, and it can take up to 5-6 years to complete one.
Yukon Cacao would be the brand. One of their fancy products is Gold Rush chocolate bar: golden milk chocolate (with turmeric). Sell that at Whole Foods. You're welcome, but I want royalties.
Oh man I loved this series!! I came here from scishow and I love how much thought and research you put into this and with an optimistic tone. I had just assumed that factory farm production of staple crops was just impossible, but this convinced me that it may be a medium-term goal.
It is a real pleasure to see your videos , especially what your doing with business. I live in an apartment and my neighbors are always talking about hydroponics.
@@ExaCognition I am interrested about carbon capture tech, as well as some biofuels based on algea. Some very cool advancements in microbiological plastic recycling are still too early to make a detailled review of it but I am curious to see :)
My next major series is on the future of energy and sustainable energy source will definitely feature. That said, I'm keen do a series on specific sustainable technologies, so things like carbon capture tech are ideal. I'm happy to cover early stage technologies with a more "can this work" approach.
This channel is fantastic. So much research compiled with clear structure! Made easy for public to appreciate! If we change our food consumption habit, eat less red meat, perhaps even consume the hydroponic fodders ourselves, that will have a significant collective change in the overall energy required. Alas, old habits are hard to change. But I’ve hope for future humans.
Your videos are amazing. I watched all the videos in the vertical farming series. Do you have these in written article versions, along with lists of references you used for you research? I am very interested in the way you conducted your analysis and I would love to study them in depth myself. Many thanks for your work!
Thanks! Sources and calculations are a common and understandable request. I wanted to tidy up the source and calculation doc so that it's easier to understand, I said I'd post it with my next Vertical Farming Video. It would be pretty easy to post them as articles as I essentially have the scripts. The main issue is that I haven't posted a video in months because I have to sort out my finances before I can carry on making videos. I hope to get back to it as soon as possible.
You crushed the vertical farming presentation amd helped me dramatically improve what i was trying to say about people making projections into the future based on the way things are now made vs how they will be as things develop. Thats key to all speculation.
Great to hear! It's easy to look at the current state from a static perspective, but technology is generally very dynamic, so it's important to factor in foreseeable changes as best as we can. With so many different branches of technology that are improving and could have a potential impact, it's certainly a challenging thing to do.
@@ExaCognition i dont know how interested you would be in further discussion, id like tp zoom out from history and do what you didwith the vertical farming episode toshow how interdependent innovations exponentially support further innovations. I just want to show people that the world isnt ending, it dramatically improving and that it doesnt happen automatically, it happens when people work their ass off and collaborate selflessly. Iwant to use history as a guide to show that todays events are not new but part of an ever turning cycle of tension leading to improvement and progress. Forged in fire.
I am a farmer and been getting away from soils and more inside. I currently run a mushroom farm and see many ways the two can combine. The technology is a stepping in the right direction and it's exciting, reducing ag transport from bulk food down to shipping only nutrients and seeds, where they get used to grow in facilities outside of city centers. The thing is these systems are dependant on the system and energy until there are cheap viable renewable energies for mass scale. It's a race to advance technology to save the system, and if it doesn't come fast enough the system might fail
That's pretty interesting. I didn't really look into mushrooms, but I'd imagine their low light requirement makes them an intriguing case. I don't think the system is dependent on cheap energy for leafy greens, as it's viable already. Though, certainly the more difficult produce is very much dependent in progress in technology. The question is, how quickly can the technology move forward?
Another unaccounted variable, rice and wheat are staples because of their calorie storage but have not historically been first-choice foods. With increased availability of stage 2 foods and meats, their relative dietary composition will fall as percent of calories consumed.
I don't think so. You're not going to overturn millenia of culinary preferences & traditions simply because you announce to everyone "We're growing vegetables now! Wheat is too hard." The solution is to innovate & make it profitable to grow wheat in vertical farms. Simple as that.
I'm glad you liked it! It's a lot of content crammed into a relatively short video, so some of the videos require a few watches for those who really want to dive into the details!
Why does "green energy" never take nuclear and artificial geothermal into account? Both technologies are FAR more energy-dense then wind or solar can ever be. Plus, solar manufacture is horrifically polluting and wind farms kill birds. Nuclear and geothermal have potential price points MUCH lower than current coal plants.
Upto today, 5 june 2020 , i never ever watched such a informative video , your level is above national geographic and discovery channels. Please make videos in hindi so you can gain more subscriber. Love and respect from India .keep it up
ive never been so impressed with the efficiency of delivering information in a way for young, old, educated or stupid people to understand and learn from, 10/10
This is a great channel! I had this idea back in 2004 and have been wanting to know just how viable all this was, especially as a solution to climate change (via creating a high demand for carbon dioxide) and carbon sequestration (via giving back land for high-carbon capture trees)
I would like to use your chart at 14:00 , about the (combined) cost of yield, solar and LED for my thesis, but i can't find the sources in the excel sheet that redirect to the data set that make up this graph. I would love to have the direct data of (presumably historical data) LED, yield solar energy costs.
wow this was a super interesting series of videos, i was interested in how the vertical farming is coming along since i have heard of it three or some years ago, thanks for the condensed and projected infos you have given
I'm 17 and very interested in this field for my career. Your videos are amazingly thought out and you really dug deep looking into every aspect of the effectiveness of this technology. Your videos on this top have given me the information to make my career decision and words can't explain how much of a positive impact this will have on my future thank you :D.
Would like to know the efficiency of light in vertical farms. There are multiple ways to make it more efficient 1) determine most efficient wavelength mix 2) directed beam that maximizes intake per square inch 3) reabsorption of stray light, ie solar cells to catch reflection off of plant leaves. Basically how do we reduce the net light needed.
It's a very interesting area. A lot of work is going into the most efficient wavelength mix (at the right growth phase of the plant). The 2nd point is also an area that gets quite a bit of focus, LED's can have more or less focus depending on the application, and can be placed closer to the plant to reduce light bleed. The 3rd point is something I still think is underutilized in a lot of vertical farms today. I’d suggest solar recapture is probably over engineered, but mirror like reflection throughout a bay can indeed save a surprising amount of energy according to the farms that do this. Of course, making bays reflective adds cost, it make temperature and airflow control more of a challenge, and greater cleaning requirements if you want to keep optimal reflection. My video “How Vertical Farming Can Improve” goes through a few of these points if you are interested.
I hope I could see a video about the relationship of GMOs with vertical farms - like how it can prevent the spread of it in nature with indoor farms and because of it being controlled, we can go further with it.
Thanks! I have definitely thought about Patreon, it would help with the sustainability of the channel, but I need to be posting regular videos before I launch it. Once I'm back from my break of videos I'll look into it.
I really love your videos, but I realized that I've already watched them all. Is there any plan on when you will make your last video, the last one is 6 months old already after all. Maybe you should set up a patreon to help you make them faster?
Thanks! I have another video coming out in a few weeks. I had to take a break for a bit, but I intend to get back to making more videos and acceleration the rate that I can produce them.
Just recently discovered your channel and all I can say is it's really not that bad I wonder if you can do a video segment on the future of rural, urban, suburban areas including metropolitan cities including travel and transportation.
Incredible high-quality series! Especilly in the context of meat production, have you considered/ are you planning on looking into lab-grown meat? It has a few benefits compared to traditional meat production like less antibiotics consumption, less water and nutriernt consumption and would also be a way to lower animal suffering. It can also be scales easily like vertcal farms. This technology is only in early stages of research and developement though and I know of no economically viable facilities as of now.
Very insightful. There is one important consideration to growing grains vertically in controlled environments. These methods are consistent in contrast to traditional arable farming where drought, rain, frost, wind effect farm yields across the globe accounting for increased insurance premiums, supply chain instability and fragile food security. Heavy farm machinery has to be purchased, serviced and maintained, fuel and contractor fuel costs that are all using energy. What would the savings be on pesticides & fertilizers. Intrusive mono culture farming is detrimental to the biodiversity of the environment effecting soil life, water ways and wildlife all that has a cost. It's an interesting time to be alive.
I loved this video, your numbers all look solid to me and these ideas are all about the numbers. To add to the conversation: I advocate backyard vertical farming as the actual 'solution;. The models used in this video are all great, they all still depend on using a monolithic corporate infrastructure to grow and distribute the product; this adds extra cost, and often in these calcs it's actually the cost of the monolithic infrastructure that is what makes them not work. That's why I am definitely convinced that the best results come from the (very few) plug and play residential models of vertical farm systems. Basically what I'm saying is that we would need to get about 4 vertical garden towers in each home in the world, and we would have huge positive impact on ecologically healthy food production.
A few people have talked about this in the comments section and it's certain a topic that warrants investigation. I'm intrigued by the parallels from other industries. Power generation in the modern age has largely been large scale, regional level generation and little local generation. That landscape is changing somewhat, with local generation and storage becoming more prevalent. There are a number of factors at play that determine which is the most efficient. Larger scale is generally more efficient, but it comes at the cost of locality and flexibility, both of which can be significant efficiency losses. Which is more efficient is complicated and is often a combination of the two. Even with solar itself, a large scale solar farm next to a town is more efficient than the same town full of solar panels, though each individual has less control over their supply own and risk exposure to artificially high prices. Also, if the solar farm is far away, then the transmission losses are higher and control over supply is even more of an issue. Computing also highlights similar trends. Computers used to be big and centralized, you used to have to go to the computer. Then people got computers in their home and nearly everyone had one. Now, you also the cloud which gives you access to cheap computing on a massive scale computer warehouse (granted they are distributed). The cloud give you cheaper computing than you can manage locally, but it comes with certain drawbacks and leaves you at risk of artificially high prices. What seems to be common across technology centralized vs locality paradigms, is there is a balance of pros and cons. Locality generally gives you more options and control for reduced risk, but generally you pay a premium for the lack of scale. The monolithic cost of scale you mention are largely present when extreme capital requirements create large barriers to entry. With such barriers, few can enter, competition is low and prices end up inflated. Food is generally less exposed to this effect, since the barrier to entry of generating it is fairly low. Additionally, if you have the option of competing yourself with your own local production, large scale necessarily must become more competitive. Generally speaking, large automated plant factories have the potential to be more cost efficient than smaller ones. Still, the option of locality gives each individual the option to chose what they prefer, or leverage a bit of both. You can have solar and storage but still use some grid energy. You can have a computer at home but still use the cloud when you need it. The technological progress enables local capability, more choice and increased competition for any centralized technology. In principle, that should make things better. I would imagine home food production would follow a similar pattern. I wouldn't expect it to replace the majority of food production, there is a clear scale advantage (and energy efficiency advantage) for plant factories. That said, if there is an option for high density local growing, it wouldn't be surprising to see a fair amount of people producing decent quantities in the home . It's currently pretty hard to produce significant quantities of food at home, but if that becomes an option, it may well shape the industry.
I just have one question. Having these plants yield so frequently, how would their nutritional value compare to the traditional crops? It's common knowledge these days, that more CO2 makes plants grow faster, but have less minerals contained, and therefore you need to eat more of them to meet the same nutritional goals for a healthy body.
Plant Factories generally produce higher nutrition product, primarily because it's easier to control the nutritional value of the food. Hydroponic and light recipe is a large influence on the nutrient balance of the produce. Extra yield through CO2 enrichment can reducing nutrient density, though you can adjust for this by increasing the nutrient concentration in the hydroponics. There is a limit to how far you can offset nutrient dilution through this method and the extent varies by plant. In terms of plant factories, it's really a choice of the balance you want to strike.
@@ExaCognition I feel like, it could be a big marketing for the industry, that it has no pesticides and has much higher nutritional value. I would even pay the extra, to experience what quality my ancestors ate (my grandparents told me they had much nutrientdense, and tastier foods).
This video APPEARS to be really well done! Narration and sound is good, but what it lacks is a list of sources from which you take the numbers / on which you base your analysis! This is absolutely imperative for any analytic/popsci/science journalism video. Otherwise it lacks credibility and sounds a bit like "just an opinion" (to those who want to be sure about the claims presented).
You are absolutely right. The source documentation needs to be posted, I endevour to post the series source docs/calcs and data sheets with the appendix video. I actually wanted to post it with initial series but it's quite a mess and a challenge to follow. I wanted to tidy it up first but it's quite a job. I think it's important to post these live for my series going forward. Frankly, this videos series has got a lot more traction than I was expecting, so I've got a bit of catching up to do!
I enjoyed this video series very much. The one thing I think was missed is that the videos compared the production of future high-tech vertical farms to current-day traditional farms. But the technological advantages we will see won't just effect vertical tech-farms. That's all... still love the series. :)
I completely agree, I didn't really talk about the many things that can be done (and sometimes is already) with exsiting agriculture. A lot of the traditional agriculture figures are based on averages of the current state, but if best practices were adopted across exisitng agriculture the impact would be significant.
@@ExaCognition Thanks for the response. I don't think you really addressed my point though. I'm NOT claiming that you were making an unfair comparison between future high-tech vertical farms and current best-practices in tradition agriculture. But rather, that the projections about vertical farming weren't compared to projections about traditional farming. If all of the improvements you mentioned took place in the vertical farming space... that would only make it competitive with traditional farming as it exists today. And if that average isn't even taking into account the best-practices but rather just the average of traditional farming... your projections for when vertical farming makes economic sense will likely get pushed years farther into the future, no?
Great video with great information - but it would be better if the music was turned down a little, it makes it harder to understand you at some points in the video.
I will be making the appendix video and I will cover a few other Vertical Farming topics in other videos too, since this series seems to be quite popular and there is plenty more to talk about.
Very good video! I'm growing small scale vertical myself and it works well. BUT, as with organic crops, vertical farming also does not receive any subsidies as far as I know. Which makes the rice, for example, grown in alternative environments much more expensive. So to arrive at a realistic price comparison for any crops grown in artificial environments one would have to deduct subsidies, crop losses and insurance and also all the pesticides etc. that are not used in vertical farming. I think if one did this calculation, we would see some great surprises.
Does the energy cost include both planting and harvesting the rice? In vertical farming, you can’t put a John Deere in to plant or harvest the rice so the cost would skyrocket.
There are various automation techniques for transplanting, some of which aim to automatically change seedling spacing at various plant phases for growth, some plant factories don't actually require workers to enter the cultivation zone. It's important to remember that while it's common to see extremely high level of automation in factories, it will take some time for the cost and capabilities of Plant Factory specific automation to fully develop. Lettuce grown in vertical farms can be cost competitive with little automation, but rice will need a high level of automation to be able to compete. There is a lot more opportunity for vertical integration (bring all stages in house), since all the major stages of cultivation, harvesting and post processing can all be done in one facility. So in principle, Plant Factory automation should be able to exceed that of fields. It will take quite a long time to get to that stage though, there needs to be a sufficient market incentive to develop such automation. It will take a while before those incentives are large enough. All that said, the energy cost of rice is much harder to solve than the labor costs, which is why I didn't spend a great deal of time focusing on automation.
i want to agree with stan tan. the labor costs are so low with a giant feild using a simple tractor, that the mechanism used for 3 dimensional farming with posts to contend with, may actually be a significant factor. the efficiency of machines come a lot if it does a continuous motion or accelerating and decelerating. also the wear and tear. in a giant field its just a tractor driving and cutting, with intermittent direction changes. in a vertical farm, would be accelerations from one level to the other, one column to the other, one row to another. it would be very variable on the arrangement of the vertical farms, and the mechanization solution. but it wudl be significant. if the difference in profitability will come down to cents, then i think it would play a significant factor.
i think it will be just the opposite. industrial scale farming will look as primitive and inefficient as a dude with a hoe and a water pail compared to the plant factories of the future.
You will need 11760KW of electricity just to produce 58kg ginger at the cost of 0.13USD/KW you need 1528USD. or 26USD/KG just for electricity just for lighting.. add labor cost+depreciation+rent+pump consumption+fertilizer cost+ packing+transport+storage+profit margin... = CONGRATULATION YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY PRODUCED "GOLD"
I think any efforts to improve the sustainability of current agricultural methods, would be well worth taking, independently of land saved by vertical farms. Since Vertical Farming is still a relatively small industry, and is only just moving into phase 2, it would be better not to wait for vertical farming's land savings, and think of that as a future benefit instead.
@@ExaCognition I was actually just thinking about this topic. In your future video on lab-grown meat, could you run a hypothetical mathematical model on how much energy and water the world could save if there was a mass transition to both Plant Factories and Lab-grown meat?
"A system that will make food cheaper than it's ever been before". And computers were going to have us all working 4 hour workdays. Food will become cheaper to produce, those savings won't make it to the consumer unless capitalism is regulated effectively imo, and for that to happen we have to find a way to loosen the corporate grip on our collective democracies. Loved the video generally.
I agree. Its dangerous to talk like that for fear of being ostracized. People immediately call you a socialist or a communist. I feel like we need to work on destigmatizing being anti capitalist and work on reestablishing constructive communication and collaboration. Social media has destroyed our ability to talk about uncomfortable issues.
I know it may seem a bit sci-fi-y, but fusion technology is on it's way to market viability, it is very enviornmentally firendly and energy dense, would it help with energy requirements?
High Q-factor fusion would be very helpful in that it has the potential for clean and cheap electricity. There is a lot of startups getting involved in fusion, which is a promising sign.
Hello @exacognition, could you be so kind as to provide a source for favorable conditions in other countries apart from Japan? Sounds very interesting. Thanks
Phase 3 crops are mainly used to make flour. Another way to make flour is to skip photosynthesis instead of plants feed yeast on natural gas or hydrogen. Apparently the resulting yeast flour is very protein rich.
Another trend you may wish to include is the slow transition of the population from grains to greens and vegetables. From hi carb to low carb. This means there won't be much requirement for phase 3 crops in 1 or 2 decades. Animal farming may reduce and proteins grown in labs may become the new staple. This is will certainly increase land use / animal protein production footprint and efficiency.
13:26 While I know this is just stock video and the green dots don't really represent anything in relation to the topic of the video, it's quite weird to see where I live light up in the right-most green dot.
Haha, my bad. It isn't actually stock video, it's VFX I created myself. The emerging green dots are supposed to represent the gradual emergence of large scale plant factories as the local viability crosses a supply/energy cost threshold in each individual region. It was a bit unreasonable of me to expect people to make that connection, but at least it looked kind of cool I hope.
Consider using nuclear energy due to reliability, energy/area density, and waste density. Also look into putting energy recapture systems into the vertical farms like: water vapor collectors feeding into small water mill generators that can catch a small percentage of potential energy as it drips back down into the hydroponic system heat exchangers (things like stirling engines and pressure based systems which collect waste heat to build up pressure in a small tank, then open a valve to run a turbine or other mechanism that can run a generator for a short time) on the walls/ceiling which can be used as part of the climate control mirror panels to enclose trays and reflect the light that missed the plants back into them, allowing for lower light levels being needed and less wasted lighting Root/non-edible bio-waste recycling systems to put the unusable parts of the plants back to work providing nutrients for the next generation of plants and supplementing existing nutrient input to further reduce operating cost on site. Feel free to add more here
Great content! Loved this series, please bring up more alternatives to other world problems we need to fix would definitely watch! The amount of views or subscribers definitely don't correspond to the quality of your videos!
Well, my next main series is going to be on the state and future of energy. I will tie that to existing global challenges. I had to take a bit of a break from video production, but I'm hoping to get back to it soon, and kick off more series.
Amazing video bro! Regarding feeding the animals i think I have read that fungus and algae can help alot and actually can help in feeding people too i think you should do a video about that
I would propose using two different terms. "Stacked farming" should be used when you have horizontal surfaces that are stacked one above the other. "Vertical surface farming" should be used when the growing surface is vertical or near vertical. Tall plants should be grown via "vertical surface farming". You may need to determine what amount of slant you can get away with, but I think it should work as long as you can provide enough light and the plant can receive enough light despite shadows from the neighboring plants.
Sorry this video took so long to make. Hope it´s worth the wait! I'm making changes to the way I do community stuff, will post an update soon.
Just stumbled on your channel. Great quality!
I have one request though: PLEASE list sources from which you take the numbers / on which you base your analysis!
This is absolutely imperative for any analytic/popsci/science journalism channel.
Also, make a patreon account or smth.
Exa Cognition I find this channel amazing the amount of research and time you spend to make such a detailed, educated, and good understanding of these concepts I really love all of it. It doesn't matter how long ur videos upload these videos are very interesting
I just discovered this channel today. Looking at things like subscriber count and video watched I think your first vertical farm video either is trending or is close to being trending among people who watch science videos. I think you are doing a great job. Hope to see some activity soon. Good luck.
your energy math would have been enormously favorable if you had used nuclear energy instead of solar. just saying.
if Fusion becomes a thing between 2030 & 2040, more than half of this video will be pointless.
Yeah this channel is a hidden gem. Keep doing good, it's shocking how good these videos are for such a small channel.
I'm glad you like it! I feel I've got a long way to go, but I've spent quite a lot of time trying to improve the quality of the videos, so it's good that it's worked.
@@ExaCognition hi. I loved this video. I was wandering this days if vertical farming combined with insect agriculture could solve the world demand for health food(proteins, fats and carbs) without doing the damage that the current agribusiness is doing to the world. Could you make a series about insect agriculture. I think it would fit with this topic. Thanks for reading(if you read it)
@@ExaCognition you makes superb videos
@@ExaCognition
You seem to know alot about vertical farming and answer the right questions.
I'd like to ask you some additional questions regarding vertical farming.
Do you have an email adress or other social media where I can pm you?
I barely noticed i consumed almost 20 minutes of information, it was explained clearly and thoroughly.
This is an incredible series. Energy dense, well structured and engaging. The most informative introduction I have seen to vertical farming on RUclips!
I have a background in both Biology and engineering and you have made me seriously considering moving into this field given the opportunities available.
You obviously researched this thoroughly, have you made your Bibliography/References/Calculations (With assumptions) available?
Sources are understandably highly requested, I was initially intending to release them with the video but the calculations and data sheets were a mess, so wanted tidy them up first that that it was easier to follow. I never got round to actually updating it though. Given this series has had a fair bit of traction recently, I think it's important for me to get it fixed even though I'm fairly short on time.
I might start with some of the key stuff and try and add a few things to it daily, so at least the most useful stuff is available soon. Otherwise it could be months before I get the time to actually work through it all.
@@ExaCognition That sounds reasonable, especially i you're pushed for time.
I imagine the series will continue to gain traction given the relative quality of the videos on this topic to others on YT. Both the data sheets and sources would solidify the professionalism of your content. Keep up the good work!
Nuclear energy is also worth considering for vertical farming. It is already the second cheapest source of energy right behind hydroelectric or "dams" and is also expected to decrease in cost as investment continues to build around the world.
I simplified the energy section for this video, my next video series is on the future of energy and I will be looking at nuclear as part of that series. I focused on solar for this video because the scope of the analysis is very specific, looking at the first viable circumstances. If we are allowed to chose our location, then solar is almost certainly going to be the cheapest source of electricity, since we can chose an relatively equatorial location with high solar irradiance and low seasonal variance. This minimizes the storage challenge and produces the cheapest possible energy.
With that said, if we are talking about general energy solutions for plant factories using electricity grids worldwide, then we can't necessarily look to solar as a cheap an effective solution. Nuclear energy has a lot of benefits from a grid perspective, clean, stable, relatively cheap, works more or less anywhere. So I expect many plant factories to be at least partially supplied by nuclear energy (some already are).
@@ExaCognition That makes a lot of sense solar definitely is a useful in many circumstances. I love how well researched all your videos have been so far and am exited for the future of the channel. Its really refreshing to see a video on vertical farming that sticks to the facts
I recently watched a cool video about nuclear. The costs of building a safe nuclear power plant are very high up front, and have to be made up over a long period of time. You go into a lot of debt to get it going. Natural gas ones are cheaper to build so are getting built more. whether thats good or bad i cant say, but i never knew the staggering cost to get a plant up and running, and it can take up to 5-6 years to complete one.
@@ExaCognition solar farms are massive failures.
@@carlvonfuckwits2934 no, they are not
I can’t wait to eat chocolate with “grown in Alaska” labeled on it
Yukon Cacao would be the brand. One of their fancy products is Gold Rush chocolate bar: golden milk chocolate (with turmeric). Sell that at Whole Foods. You're welcome, but I want royalties.
Oh man I loved this series!! I came here from scishow and I love how much thought and research you put into this and with an optimistic tone. I had just assumed that factory farm production of staple crops was just impossible, but this convinced me that it may be a medium-term goal.
It is a real pleasure to see your videos , especially what your doing with business. I live in an apartment and my neighbors are always talking about hydroponics.
Thanks a lot!
Dude, the amount of work you put into this is remarkable. You deserve more views!
This channel will explode soon! Awesome videos!
Glad you think so!
vertical farming + thorium nuclear
This is a excellent study of the technology! Keep it up, I am very interested in those new innovations and your videos!
Thanks! Hopefully I can keep the videos at a regular schedule. Are there any particular innovations you are interested in?
@@ExaCognition I am interrested about carbon capture tech, as well as some biofuels based on algea. Some very cool advancements in microbiological plastic recycling are still too early to make a detailled review of it but I am curious to see :)
My next major series is on the future of energy and sustainable energy source will definitely feature. That said, I'm keen do a series on specific sustainable technologies, so things like carbon capture tech are ideal. I'm happy to cover early stage technologies with a more "can this work" approach.
This channel is fantastic. So much research compiled with clear structure! Made easy for public to appreciate! If we change our food consumption habit, eat less red meat, perhaps even consume the hydroponic fodders ourselves, that will have a significant collective change in the overall energy required. Alas, old habits are hard to change. But I’ve hope for future humans.
This is by far the best video I have seen on vertical farming. Awesome analysis and way of presentation.
Keep going Exa Cognition!
Your videos are amazing. I watched all the videos in the vertical farming series. Do you have these in written article versions, along with lists of references you used for you research? I am very interested in the way you conducted your analysis and I would love to study them in depth myself. Many thanks for your work!
Thanks! Sources and calculations are a common and understandable request. I wanted to tidy up the source and calculation doc so that it's easier to understand, I said I'd post it with my next Vertical Farming Video. It would be pretty easy to post them as articles as I essentially have the scripts.
The main issue is that I haven't posted a video in months because I have to sort out my finances before I can carry on making videos. I hope to get back to it as soon as possible.
You crushed the vertical farming presentation amd helped me dramatically improve what i was trying to say about people making projections into the future based on the way things are now made vs how they will be as things develop. Thats key to all speculation.
Great to hear! It's easy to look at the current state from a static perspective, but technology is generally very dynamic, so it's important to factor in foreseeable changes as best as we can. With so many different branches of technology that are improving and could have a potential impact, it's certainly a challenging thing to do.
@@ExaCognition i dont know how interested you would be in further discussion, id like tp zoom out from history and do what you didwith the vertical farming episode toshow how interdependent innovations exponentially support further innovations. I just want to show people that the world isnt ending, it dramatically improving and that it doesnt happen automatically, it happens when people work their ass off and collaborate selflessly. Iwant to use history as a guide to show that todays events are not new but part of an ever turning cycle of tension leading to improvement and progress. Forged in fire.
Great quality documentary with lots of intelligent analysis of the issues and the state of the technology. This channel is definitely going places.
I am a farmer and been getting away from soils and more inside. I currently run a mushroom farm and see many ways the two can combine. The technology is a stepping in the right direction and it's exciting, reducing ag transport from bulk food down to shipping only nutrients and seeds, where they get used to grow in facilities outside of city centers.
The thing is these systems are dependant on the system and energy until there are cheap viable renewable energies for mass scale. It's a race to advance technology to save the system, and if it doesn't come fast enough the system might fail
That's pretty interesting. I didn't really look into mushrooms, but I'd imagine their low light requirement makes them an intriguing case.
I don't think the system is dependent on cheap energy for leafy greens, as it's viable already. Though, certainly the more difficult produce is very much dependent in progress in technology. The question is, how quickly can the technology move forward?
Another unaccounted variable, rice and wheat are staples because of their calorie storage but have not historically been first-choice foods. With increased availability of stage 2 foods and meats, their relative dietary composition will fall as percent of calories consumed.
good point, but i think we got so good at using these 'staple crops' that it could well be a generational project to get people to let go of them.
I don't think so. You're not going to overturn millenia of culinary preferences & traditions simply because you announce to everyone "We're growing vegetables now! Wheat is too hard."
The solution is to innovate & make it profitable to grow wheat in vertical farms. Simple as that.
The hard work you put into your garden really shows
I’m glad I found this channel early! Keep up the great work!
That was a FANTASTIC video!!! I'm going to have to watch it a couple more times to fully comprehend it all!
I'm glad you liked it! It's a lot of content crammed into a relatively short video, so some of the videos require a few watches for those who really want to dive into the details!
Hopefully, we get more RUclipsrs like you to use the platform for something good while still being informal, unlike various documentaries.
I appreciate that!
Wow how come this channel is so small? Amazing channel my friend, keep it up
Why does "green energy" never take nuclear and artificial geothermal into account? Both technologies are FAR more energy-dense then wind or solar can ever be. Plus, solar manufacture is horrifically polluting and wind farms kill birds. Nuclear and geothermal have potential price points MUCH lower than current coal plants.
Upto today, 5 june 2020 , i never ever watched such a informative video , your level is above national geographic and discovery channels. Please make videos in hindi so you can gain more subscriber. Love and respect from India .keep it up
What an exquisite video series. Seriously, thank you so much for this.
Wow, thank you!
ive never been so impressed with the efficiency of delivering information in a way for young, old, educated or stupid people to understand and learn from,
10/10
Thanks a lot, I'm glad you like this.
This is a great channel! I had this idea back in 2004 and have been wanting to know just how viable all this was, especially as a solution to climate change (via creating a high demand for carbon dioxide) and carbon sequestration (via giving back land for high-carbon capture trees)
High quality well researched video thank you for that!
Grow indoor vertical rice in Argentina, where electricity costs are 1 cent per KWH.
How are you not having a million views? Nice job
Damn, I'm glad i clicked on your videos it saved tones of hours of research.. u r a hero, mate.
incredible video! You got the best quality channel I found in a long time :)
Very good explanations and visuals. Thanks for these quality videos!
You're very welcome!
Love your channel! This channel makes me love agriculture
Thank you so much for the wealth of information (and options) that you have put together in this video.
Such great quality content you are uploading
I hope you channel grows very soon
Thanks very much!
Our government should focus on vertical farming rather than forcing laws onto farmers. Vertical farming is the future.
I would like to use your chart at 14:00 , about the (combined) cost of yield, solar and LED for my thesis, but i can't find the sources in the excel sheet that redirect to the data set that make up this graph. I would love to have the direct data of (presumably historical data) LED, yield solar energy costs.
This topics are very interesting, this channel has such a great future. Hopefully the frequency of the uploaded videos will improve. Cheers!
Excellent video, I hope you keep the channel going.
I will be. I had to take a break for financial reasons but I will be back to posting videos soon.
Hope your situation improves. Have you considered a patreon for your channel? Every little bit helps.
wow this was a super interesting series of videos, i was interested in how the vertical farming is coming along since i have heard of it three or some years ago, thanks for the condensed and projected infos you have given
I'm 17 and very interested in this field for my career. Your videos are amazingly thought out and you really dug deep looking into every aspect of the effectiveness of this technology. Your videos on this top have given me the information to make my career decision and words can't explain how much of a positive impact this will have on my future thank you :D.
That's great to hear, good luck!
Would like to know the efficiency of light in vertical farms. There are multiple ways to make it more efficient 1) determine most efficient wavelength mix 2) directed beam that maximizes intake per square inch 3) reabsorption of stray light, ie solar cells to catch reflection off of plant leaves. Basically how do we reduce the net light needed.
It's a very interesting area. A lot of work is going into the most efficient wavelength mix (at the right growth phase of the plant). The 2nd point is also an area that gets quite a bit of focus, LED's can have more or less focus depending on the application, and can be placed closer to the plant to reduce light bleed. The 3rd point is something I still think is underutilized in a lot of vertical farms today.
I’d suggest solar recapture is probably over engineered, but mirror like reflection throughout a bay can indeed save a surprising amount of energy according to the farms that do this. Of course, making bays reflective adds cost, it make temperature and airflow control more of a challenge, and greater cleaning requirements if you want to keep optimal reflection.
My video “How Vertical Farming Can Improve” goes through a few of these points if you are interested.
I hope I could see a video about the relationship of GMOs with vertical farms - like how it can prevent the spread of it in nature with indoor farms and because of it being controlled, we can go further with it.
You gotta setup a patreon man, this is the knowledge we need to spread
Thanks! I have definitely thought about Patreon, it would help with the sustainability of the channel, but I need to be posting regular videos before I launch it. Once I'm back from my break of videos I'll look into it.
I really love your videos, but I realized that I've already watched them all. Is there any plan on when you will make your last video, the last one is 6 months old already after all. Maybe you should set up a patreon to help you make them faster?
Thanks! I have another video coming out in a few weeks. I had to take a break for a bit, but I intend to get back to making more videos and acceleration the rate that I can produce them.
Well researched video! You've earned a subscription 👍
Awesome, thank you!
Best researched video about vertical farming, good job mate continue on making content i like it
Keep covering this topic...great/inportant work
I want to do a follow up video at the end of the year, to see how things have progressed, since I made this series.
Such a great video!!! Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Great informative video - well worth the wait 👍
Just recently discovered your channel and all I can say is it's really not that bad I wonder if you can do a video segment on the future of rural, urban, suburban areas including metropolitan cities including travel and transportation.
I'm definitely going to be looking at transport and travel in upcoming videos.
Great video! Your channel seems full of other interesting content. It's a mystery why the YT algorithm didn't recommend it sooner??
Incredible high-quality series! Especilly in the context of meat production, have you considered/ are you planning on looking into lab-grown meat? It has a few benefits compared to traditional meat production like less antibiotics consumption, less water and nutriernt consumption and would also be a way to lower animal suffering. It can also be scales easily like vertcal farms. This technology is only in early stages of research and developement though and I know of no economically viable facilities as of now.
I'm glad you enjoyed the series.Lab grown meat is going to be one of my next videos, it's certainly a n interesting area.
What a great series, thank you bro
Glad you enjoy it!
Very good, thanks for the info. How did you get the information?
There's a book called "The Plant Factory" by T Kozei. It's a dense read, but it's got a lot of useful information in it.
@@ExaCognition thank you so much! I ask because I want to be a vertical farmer, so your videos are very helpful
God, you're so good, hope your channel will boom asap
I hope so too
I love your stuff, you are doing amazing work!!👍👍👍
Thank you very much!
Very insightful. There is one important consideration to growing grains vertically in controlled environments. These methods are consistent in contrast to traditional arable farming where drought, rain, frost, wind effect farm yields across the globe accounting for increased insurance premiums, supply chain instability and fragile food security.
Heavy farm machinery has to be purchased, serviced and maintained, fuel and contractor fuel costs that are all using energy. What would the savings be on pesticides & fertilizers. Intrusive mono culture farming is detrimental to the biodiversity of the environment effecting soil life, water ways and wildlife all that has a cost.
It's an interesting time to be alive.
I loved this video, your numbers all look solid to me and these ideas are all about the numbers. To add to the conversation: I advocate backyard vertical farming as the actual 'solution;. The models used in this video are all great, they all still depend on using a monolithic corporate infrastructure to grow and distribute the product; this adds extra cost, and often in these calcs it's actually the cost of the monolithic infrastructure that is what makes them not work. That's why I am definitely convinced that the best results come from the (very few) plug and play residential models of vertical farm systems. Basically what I'm saying is that we would need to get about 4 vertical garden towers in each home in the world, and we would have huge positive impact on ecologically healthy food production.
A few people have talked about this in the comments section and it's certain a topic that warrants investigation. I'm intrigued by the parallels from other industries.
Power generation in the modern age has largely been large scale, regional level generation and little local generation. That landscape is changing somewhat, with local generation and storage becoming more prevalent. There are a number of factors at play that determine which is the most efficient.
Larger scale is generally more efficient, but it comes at the cost of locality and flexibility, both of which can be significant efficiency losses. Which is more efficient is complicated and is often a combination of the two. Even with solar itself, a large scale solar farm next to a town is more efficient than the same town full of solar panels, though each individual has less control over their supply own and risk exposure to artificially high prices. Also, if the solar farm is far away, then the transmission losses are higher and control over supply is even more of an issue.
Computing also highlights similar trends. Computers used to be big and centralized, you used to have to go to the computer. Then people got computers in their home and nearly everyone had one. Now, you also the cloud which gives you access to cheap computing on a massive scale computer warehouse (granted they are distributed). The cloud give you cheaper computing than you can manage locally, but it comes with certain drawbacks and leaves you at risk of artificially high prices.
What seems to be common across technology centralized vs locality paradigms, is there is a balance of pros and cons. Locality generally gives you more options and control for reduced risk, but generally you pay a premium for the lack of scale.
The monolithic cost of scale you mention are largely present when extreme capital requirements create large barriers to entry. With such barriers, few can enter, competition is low and prices end up inflated. Food is generally less exposed to this effect, since the barrier to entry of generating it is fairly low. Additionally, if you have the option of competing yourself with your own local production, large scale necessarily must become more competitive. Generally speaking, large automated plant factories have the potential to be more cost efficient than smaller ones.
Still, the option of locality gives each individual the option to chose what they prefer, or leverage a bit of both. You can have solar and storage but still use some grid energy. You can have a computer at home but still use the cloud when you need it. The technological progress enables local capability, more choice and increased competition for any centralized technology. In principle, that should make things better.
I would imagine home food production would follow a similar pattern. I wouldn't expect it to replace the majority of food production, there is a clear scale advantage (and energy efficiency advantage) for plant factories. That said, if there is an option for high density local growing, it wouldn't be surprising to see a fair amount of people producing decent quantities in the home . It's currently pretty hard to produce significant quantities of food at home, but if that becomes an option, it may well shape the industry.
I just have one question. Having these plants yield so frequently, how would their nutritional value compare to the traditional crops? It's common knowledge these days, that more CO2 makes plants grow faster, but have less minerals contained, and therefore you need to eat more of them to meet the same nutritional goals for a healthy body.
Plant Factories generally produce higher nutrition product, primarily because it's easier to control the nutritional value of the food. Hydroponic and light recipe is a large influence on the nutrient balance of the produce. Extra yield through CO2 enrichment can reducing nutrient density, though you can adjust for this by increasing the nutrient concentration in the hydroponics. There is a limit to how far you can offset nutrient dilution through this method and the extent varies by plant. In terms of plant factories, it's really a choice of the balance you want to strike.
@@ExaCognition I feel like, it could be a big marketing for the industry, that it has no pesticides and has much higher nutritional value. I would even pay the extra, to experience what quality my ancestors ate (my grandparents told me they had much nutrientdense, and tastier foods).
This video APPEARS to be really well done! Narration and sound is good, but what it lacks is a list of sources from which you take the numbers / on which you base your analysis!
This is absolutely imperative for any analytic/popsci/science journalism video. Otherwise it lacks credibility and sounds a bit like "just an opinion" (to those who want to be sure about the claims presented).
You are absolutely right. The source documentation needs to be posted, I endevour to post the series source docs/calcs and data sheets with the appendix video. I actually wanted to post it with initial series but it's quite a mess and a challenge to follow. I wanted to tidy it up first but it's quite a job.
I think it's important to post these live for my series going forward. Frankly, this videos series has got a lot more traction than I was expecting, so I've got a bit of catching up to do!
Dude thanks you.. excellent video..
Glad you liked it!
This is some amazing content! Keep it up 👏🏻
Fantastic video, great job dude, keep it up. Can you share your references and used articles to create this video, please.
Keep up the great work! Your videos create value! :)
I enjoyed this video series very much. The one thing I think was missed is that the videos compared the production of future high-tech vertical farms to current-day traditional farms. But the technological advantages we will see won't just effect vertical tech-farms. That's all... still love the series. :)
I completely agree, I didn't really talk about the many things that can be done (and sometimes is already) with exsiting agriculture. A lot of the traditional agriculture figures are based on averages of the current state, but if best practices were adopted across exisitng agriculture the impact would be significant.
@@ExaCognition Thanks for the response. I don't think you really addressed my point though. I'm NOT claiming that you were making an unfair comparison between future high-tech vertical farms and current best-practices in tradition agriculture. But rather, that the projections about vertical farming weren't compared to projections about traditional farming. If all of the improvements you mentioned took place in the vertical farming space... that would only make it competitive with traditional farming as it exists today. And if that average isn't even taking into account the best-practices but rather just the average of traditional farming... your projections for when vertical farming makes economic sense will likely get pushed years farther into the future, no?
You did a great job. Thank you!
Great video with great information - but it would be better if the music was turned down a little, it makes it harder to understand you at some points in the video.
I must say this content is amazing, just discovered your channel and this video series today. I hope you come back soon to make the appendix video.
I will be making the appendix video and I will cover a few other Vertical Farming topics in other videos too, since this series seems to be quite popular and there is plenty more to talk about.
Its amazing Thank RUclips so much for this Video
You're welcome
10/10 Content. I can't wait to see your next video!
Very good video! I'm growing small scale vertical myself and it works well. BUT, as with organic crops, vertical farming also does not receive any subsidies as far as I know. Which makes the rice, for example, grown in alternative environments much more expensive. So to arrive at a realistic price comparison for any crops grown in artificial environments one would have to deduct subsidies, crop losses and insurance and also all the pesticides etc. that are not used in vertical farming. I think if one did this calculation, we would see some great surprises.
Does the energy cost include both planting and harvesting the rice? In vertical farming, you can’t put a John Deere in to plant or harvest the rice so the cost would skyrocket.
There are various automation techniques for transplanting, some of which aim to automatically change seedling spacing at various plant phases for growth, some plant factories don't actually require workers to enter the cultivation zone.
It's important to remember that while it's common to see extremely high level of automation in factories, it will take some time for the cost and capabilities of Plant Factory specific automation to fully develop. Lettuce grown in vertical farms can be cost competitive with little automation, but rice will need a high level of automation to be able to compete.
There is a lot more opportunity for vertical integration (bring all stages in house), since all the major stages of cultivation, harvesting and post processing can all be done in one facility. So in principle, Plant Factory automation should be able to exceed that of fields. It will take quite a long time to get to that stage though, there needs to be a sufficient market incentive to develop such automation. It will take a while before those incentives are large enough.
All that said, the energy cost of rice is much harder to solve than the labor costs, which is why I didn't spend a great deal of time focusing on automation.
i want to agree with stan tan. the labor costs are so low with a giant feild using a simple tractor, that the mechanism used for 3 dimensional farming with posts to contend with, may actually be a significant factor. the efficiency of machines come a lot if it does a continuous motion or accelerating and decelerating. also the wear and tear. in a giant field its just a tractor driving and cutting, with intermittent direction changes. in a vertical farm, would be accelerations from one level to the other, one column to the other, one row to another. it would be very variable on the arrangement of the vertical farms, and the mechanization solution. but it wudl be significant. if the difference in profitability will come down to cents, then i think it would play a significant factor.
i think it will be just the opposite. industrial scale farming will look as primitive and inefficient as a dude with a hoe and a water pail compared to the plant factories of the future.
awesome series! I really learned a lot!
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
You will need 11760KW of electricity just to produce 58kg ginger at the cost of 0.13USD/KW you need 1528USD. or 26USD/KG just for electricity just for lighting.. add labor cost+depreciation+rent+pump consumption+fertilizer cost+ packing+transport+storage+profit margin... = CONGRATULATION YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY PRODUCED "GOLD"
Wow,rarely I watch a video that makes me that much optimistic about the future.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's easy to get overfaced with the problems we are up against, but these solutions are definitely making progress.
@@ExaCognition thanks man!
Great video series. What if you use the land that you save from traditional farming and use it for regenerative farming and cattle raising?
I think any efforts to improve the sustainability of current agricultural methods, would be well worth taking, independently of land saved by vertical farms. Since Vertical Farming is still a relatively small industry, and is only just moving into phase 2, it would be better not to wait for vertical farming's land savings, and think of that as a future benefit instead.
You did a good job covering this topic. Would you want to do a video about lab grown meat?
Thanks! Lab grown meat is actually 3 videos away. So hopefully I can make it relatively soon.
@@ExaCognition I was actually just thinking about this topic. In your future video on lab-grown meat, could you run a hypothetical mathematical model on how much energy and water the world could save if there was a mass transition to both Plant Factories and Lab-grown meat?
"A system that will make food cheaper than it's ever been before". And computers were going to have us all working 4 hour workdays. Food will become cheaper to produce, those savings won't make it to the consumer unless capitalism is regulated effectively imo, and for that to happen we have to find a way to loosen the corporate grip on our collective democracies. Loved the video generally.
I agree. Its dangerous to talk like that for fear of being ostracized. People immediately call you a socialist or a communist. I feel like we need to work on destigmatizing being anti capitalist and work on reestablishing constructive communication and collaboration. Social media has destroyed our ability to talk about uncomfortable issues.
this video, and this channel, DESERVES MORE THAN THUMBS UP AND SUBSCRIBE...!!!
Great documentary. Vertical farms coupled with people reducing their meat intake will mean healthier people and a healthier planet.
I know it may seem a bit sci-fi-y, but fusion technology is on it's way to market viability, it is very enviornmentally firendly and energy dense, would it help with energy requirements?
High Q-factor fusion would be very helpful in that it has the potential for clean and cheap electricity. There is a lot of startups getting involved in fusion, which is a promising sign.
Hello @exacognition, could you be so kind as to provide a source for favorable conditions in other countries apart from Japan? Sounds very interesting.
Thanks
Phase 3 crops are mainly used to make flour. Another way to make flour is to skip photosynthesis instead of plants feed yeast on natural gas or hydrogen. Apparently the resulting yeast flour is very protein rich.
really the place this makes the most sense is in the four corners on already failing farm land
Another trend you may wish to include is the slow transition of the population from grains to greens and vegetables. From hi carb to low carb. This means there won't be much requirement for phase 3 crops in 1 or 2 decades. Animal farming may reduce and proteins grown in labs may become the new staple. This is will certainly increase land use / animal protein production footprint and efficiency.
This is great stuff! Good work. New subscriber.
13:26 While I know this is just stock video and the green dots don't really represent anything in relation to the topic of the video, it's quite weird to see where I live light up in the right-most green dot.
Haha, my bad.
It isn't actually stock video, it's VFX I created myself. The emerging green dots are supposed to represent the gradual emergence of large scale plant factories as the local viability crosses a supply/energy cost threshold in each individual region. It was a bit unreasonable of me to expect people to make that connection, but at least it looked kind of cool I hope.
Consider using nuclear energy due to reliability, energy/area density, and waste density. Also look into putting energy recapture systems into the vertical farms like:
water vapor collectors feeding into small water mill generators that can catch a small percentage of potential energy as it drips back down into the hydroponic system
heat exchangers (things like stirling engines and pressure based systems which collect waste heat to build up pressure in a small tank, then open a valve to run a turbine or other mechanism that can run a generator for a short time) on the walls/ceiling which can be used as part of the climate control
mirror panels to enclose trays and reflect the light that missed the plants back into them, allowing for lower light levels being needed and less wasted lighting
Root/non-edible bio-waste recycling systems to put the unusable parts of the plants back to work providing nutrients for the next generation of plants and supplementing existing nutrient input to further reduce operating cost on site.
Feel free to add more here
Great content! Loved this series, please bring up more alternatives to other world problems we need to fix would definitely watch! The amount of views or subscribers definitely don't correspond to the quality of your videos!
Well, my next main series is going to be on the state and future of energy. I will tie that to existing global challenges. I had to take a bit of a break from video production, but I'm hoping to get back to it soon, and kick off more series.
@@ExaCognition Great i'll stay tuned for that! Hope you do, love these kinds of videos!
These videos are brilliant and extremely informative thank you. I'm very interested in using technology like this to help people and the planet.
Glad it was helpful!
Challenge accepted! I'll keep in touch
Amazing video bro!
Regarding feeding the animals i think I have read that fungus and algae can help alot and actually can help in feeding people too i think you should do a video about that
Thanks, it's something I've been looking into making a short about at some point.
"Not possible due to energy constraints": Nuclear Fusion: Am I a joke to you!?
Absolutely love your vids :D
I would propose using two different terms. "Stacked farming" should be used when you have horizontal surfaces that are stacked one above the other. "Vertical surface farming" should be used when the growing surface is vertical or near vertical. Tall plants should be grown via "vertical surface farming". You may need to determine what amount of slant you can get away with, but I think it should work as long as you can provide enough light and the plant can receive enough light despite shadows from the neighboring plants.
GR8 video - thank you
Very good and deep analysis 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻❤️❤️