How exactly do you get the freshest produce from a farm to the heart of a city without causing a huge carbon footprint? London, England, has been facing this question for a while, and the answer might be relics from World War II.

Being so close to mainland Europe, London had the very real threat of German air raids in World War II. In an effort to reduce the damage, London has huge shelters 100 feet below street level. Since the war ended, these shelters have stood unused and mostly forgotten, but now they might serve a more peaceful purpose.

Richard Ballard and Steven Dring have a plan to convert these old shelters and passageways into eco friendly farming locations as part of an intitiave called Growing Underground. Using special arrays, produce will be grown hydroponically with LED lights. The project is estimated to produce two and a half acres of vegetables.

London is something like 35 miles wide. By growing plants under the very stores and restaurants they will ultimately end up in, miles worth of transportation are removed. The current list of plants intended to be grown include a wide variety of spices, broccoli, pea shoots and radishes.

Underground farming is certainly a more eco friendly practice now that technology has progressed to use less fossil fuels for the electricity, but it certainly isn’t a new idea. Many different products can be, and have been grown underground for quite a while now.

Mushrooms, rhubarb, bean sprouts and experimental crops have all been grown indoors or underground. Mushrooms have been grown for roughly 1000 years now, and some are extremely sensitive to light, and are commonly cultivated subterraneously. Of course, a lot of the older underground farms were used to grow controlled substances. However, the under London farm idea, is a whole new breed of cat.

By using water not deemed fit for human consumption, and LED grow lights, this planting operation will reduce carbon used for transportation, produce oxygen, and repurpose old abandoned structures, all while delivering extremely fresh, organic, sustainble, and healthy foods.