Vertical farming refers to practice of growing food indoors in vertically stacked layers. In this study, conventional vertical farming is distinguished from green vertical farming based on one variable: whether or not it employs sources of renewable energy.

Conventional vertical farming

Conventional vertical farming is by far the practice associated with the most emissions. The reason is very simple: energy. The use of perishable sources of energy to power vertical farming is clearly inefficient and not sustainable.

“Energy inputs account for the highest source of CO2 emissions in current vertical farming. This represents 90% of the total emissions. Estimated energy emissions are 5,000kg CO2eq for vertical farms if green energy is not used.”

In conventional vertical farming, the emissions linked to energy use alone are ten times higher than the total emissions generated by open field agriculture.

CO2 emissions per ton of harvested lettuce - 5,744kg

green vertical farming

“The emission reduction from energy use improvements, renewable energy sources and full recycling of waste energy is at the core of the sustainable development solution in vertical farming. This represents up to 98% of total emission reductions to around 160 kg CO2eq for each ton of harvested lettuce.”



Based on the results from this study, green vertical farming can potentially emit 70% less CO2 compared to open field agriculture, with additional benefits of 95% less land used and 80 to 90% less water use.

Moreover, green vertical farming can substantially reduce the amount of food waste. The enclosed nature of the growing setup, making contamination related to crop failure extremely unlikely, and the proximity to the consumers, reducing transportation emissions to a minimum, could reduce food losses by up to 99% and emissions associated with it by up to 70%.

CO2 emissions per ton of harvested lettuce - 158kg

Conclusion

The most efficient solution seems to be a combination of the existing alternatives, maximizing on their strengths and trying to minimize their shortcomings.

Vertical farming can be a major player in the transition to a green, circular economy in urban environments, but it does have it’s challenges. The main ones are assessing which crops are best grown in a vertical farming setup in terms of resource efficiency and sustainability along assuring a renewable source of energy to power its technology.

But as you can see, if done properly, the expansion of vertical farming can reduce the overall C02 emissions generated by food production.

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