Year-round greenhouses
Molly Anderson (manderso@emerald.tufts.edu)
Fri, 12 May 1995 09:07:14 -0400 (EDT)
The responses to John Hendrickson's query about growing food year-round
in greenhouses have been really interesting. There is a farm outside
Boston that is building a new composting facility alongside a greenhouse,
with plans to heat the greenhouse from the composting process. Local
livestock farms pay this farm to take their animal manure(!), and the farm
also uses food waste from Boston restaurants in their compost. They have
hired a consultant who designed a similar system in Munich to handle
compostable municipal solid waste. I believe they are implementing a
system in which the city picks up compostables in biodegradable bags left
curbside.
Does anyone have more information on use of heat from composters, or city
composting of materials other than yardwaste? What is the ratio of area
of compost needed to area of greenhouse that can be heated, with good
insulation to avoid heat loss? How much would such a system cost to
build and maintain? Could the investment be recouped on profits
from produce, or is it true that you would need higher-value crops such
as cut flowers?
Molly D. Anderson
School of Nutrition, Tufts University