The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century

let’s assume we could somehow convince the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa to convert all their agricultural land back into hardwood forest, which most of it was prior to 1600. If it were allowed to regrow, that much hardwood forest would consume annually around 10 percent of U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide as it reached maturity (thir

a set of highly purified, carefully balanced nutrients will have been dissolved to satisfy the nutritional requirements of the plants.

Bamboo in various diameters could also serve the purpose quite well, and since it’s one of the toughest natural materials we know of,

Plants in the vertical farm could convert safe-to-use grey water into drinking water by transpiration.

food waste can easily be converted back into energy employing clean state-of-the-art incineration technologies, and wastewater can be converted back into drinking water.

skilled professionals—managers, developers, architects, engineers, planners, agronomists, waste-to-energy personnel, sales personnel, educators, security personnel, laboratory personnel (microbiologists, molecular biologists, technicians, and supervisors), as well as a large unskilled labor force whose job descriptions will vary from overseeing the

The herbicides and pesticides that are applied to the

A gram of feces, when incinerated, yields some 1.5 kilocalories of energy.

The water used to grow food inside could even be recirculated and used again and again, provided that nutrients are replaced at the same rate that they are taken up by the hydroponically grown plants.