The "Sky High Day" Symposium-First Announcement

August 22, 2024 Yongran Ji

We are organising the "Sky High Day" symposium, a one-day event dedicated to research on vertical farming. This symposium is part of the TTW Perspectief programme funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), where researchers collaborate with lighting specialists, breeding companies, growers, horticulture technology companies, architects, and food suppliers to improve the efficiency of vertical farming.

🚀 Why Attend?
🔹 Learn about scientific research on plant physiology, breeding, engineering, and urban planning.
🔹 Engage in three insightful panel discussions with leading experts on various aspects of vertical farming.
🔹 Network with scientists, industry leaders, and innovators during our social events.

Our mission is to make vertical farming more cost-effective and energy-efficient while producing vegetables and herbs with superior taste, shelf life, and nutritional value. This approach uses minimal water and nutrients and eliminates the need for pesticides.

🌱 Supported By: AMS Institute, Bayer, Bosman van Zaal, Certhon, Fresh Forward, Grodan, Growy, Own Greens/Vitroplus, Priva, Signify, Solynta, Unilever, van Bergen Kolpa Architects, and the Foundation of Food & Agricultural Research (FFAR).

📅 Date: October 16th, 2024
📍 Location: Omnia Auditorium, Wageningen

Don't miss this opportunity to be at the forefront of vertical farming innovation. Click here to see the agenda details and register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-sky-high-day-registration-941033274857

New Publication from group of Prof. Andy van den Dobbelsteen

February 19, 2024 Yongran Ji

Sustainable Cities and Society

Synergetic urbanism: a theoretical exploration of a vertical farm as local heat source and flexible electricity user

Tess Blom, Andy Jenkins, Andy van den Dobbelsteen

Highlights

•Explores the potential of vertical farms as heat source for heat networks.

•Explores the potential for flexible electricity use in a vertical farm.

•The energy system with integrated vertical farm reduced energy use by 15 %.

•Flexible electricity use by vertical farms significantly reduces costs.

Abstract

The urban energy transition requires innovative heating and cooling systems, as well as enhanced flexibility in electricity usage. This paper explores the theoretical potential for vertical farms to contribute to the energy transition by supplying residual heat to local district heat networks and flexible electricity usage. A stepped approach was used to design energy systems that achieve thermal energy balance through heat and cold exchange between a vertical farm and buildings within a specific Dutch neighbourhood. Furthermore, alternative lighting strategies for vertical farms were explored to reduce grid congestion and to respond to electricity price fluctuations, limiting the mismatch between electricity generation and demand. Compared to the baseline scenario, the energy system with an integrated vertical farm reduces overall energy use by 15 %, even when accounting for the farm's electricity use. By adopting intermittent lighting that is better aligned with electricity price fluctuations, the vertical farm obtained annual cost savings of 14 %. The integration of vertical farms into energy systems can, therefore, contribute to the urban energy transition by producing residual heat to balance thermal energy system and save money for growers by optimising LED operations to align with electricity price fluctuations, whilst producing fresh vegetables for the city.

Link to the publication

New Publication from group of Dr. Twan van Hooff

February 2, 2024 Yongran Ji

Developments in the Built Environment

Numerical evaluation and optimization of air distribution system in a small vertical farm with lateral air supply

Luyang Kang & Twan van Hooff

Highlights

•Comprehensive assessment of air distribution design in a vertical farm.

•Momentum sink and air exchange from crop canopy are considered.

•Configurations of air supply, air exhaust, corridor width are numerically evaluated.

•Uniformity in crop regions across different growth layers is examined.

•Suggestions for optimizing air distribution in vertical farms are provided.

Abstract

An appropriate design for air distribution systems is crucial for achieving optimal and uniform growth conditions while reducing energy costs in vertical farms. This study employs steady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the influence of several key design parameters of air distribution systems in a small generic vertical farm with a lateral air supply. The simulation results reveal that an air supply orifice of reduced dimensions, positioned proximally to the LED lamps, coupled with an exhaust mechanism integrated into the corridor ceiling, proves most effective in removing the excess heat generated by the LED lamps. Moreover, enhanced uniformity in air distribution is attained by positioning the air supply closer to the LED lamps, utilizing larger orifices, and eliminating the corridor space. In contrast, the vertical distance between the lateral air exhaust orifices and the cultivated regions is found to have a negligible effect.

Link to the publication

New Publication from group of Prof. Andy van den Dobbelsteen

November 14, 2023 Yongran Ji

Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

Synergetic integration of vertical farms and buildings: reducing the use of energy, water, and nutrients

Tess Blom, Andy Jenkins, Andy van den Dobbelsteen

Vertical farms use some resources very efficiently. However, their electricity use is considerable, and a significant amount of waste heat is produced. This paper investigates how the integration of vertical farms in buildings could reduce the use of energy, water, and nutrients collectively across both entities by leveraging potential resource synergies. The paper considered the integration of vertical farms in apartments, offices, restaurants, swimming pools, and supermarkets located in the Netherlands. For each typology, the floor area heated and the amount of building users fed by one m2 of one production layer within the vertical farm was calculated, along with required outputs of water and nutrients from the building to sustain the vertical farm. The energy savings of different integration strategies were calculated for each building typology in comparison to a non-integrated approach. Results showed that the synergetic integration of vertical farms with buildings reduced the year-round energy use of the climate systems of both entities collectively by between 12 and 51%. The integration of vertical farms with buildings decreases the use of energy, water, and nutrients from external sources and offers great potentials to reduce the environmental impacts of both entities, whilst producing food in urban environments.

Link to the publication