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Denmark just opened a huge vertical farm, and it could be a sign of things to come globally

Posted on December 16, 2020 by dishanth

When you look at a lush, green, delicious plant, you probably tend to think it comes from a fertile land somewhere in the world. Well, that might no longer be the only option out there. A vertical farm just opened up in an old warehouse without windows in Copenhagen and it expects to produce 1,000 tons of produce per year by 2021, showing that vertical farms really do have a solid future.

They won’t see the light of day or have access to soil, but hundreds of tons of lettuce, herbs, and kale (among other produce) will soon be coming out of the vertical farm. The advantage of the vertical farm is that it takes less space than a conventional crop, helping to meet the world’s food demand and producing food locally instead of importing it.

Around 37% of the earth’s landmass is used for agriculture, according to the World Bank. But climate change and conflicts can challenge the availability of land for farming, not to even mention soil erosion — one of the major environmental issues that often fly under the radar. A quarter of the world’s productive lands have already been degraded, according to the World Food Programme, challenging food security.

The project is run by YesHealth Group, a Taiwanese company with a long record developing vertical farming technology, in partnership with Nordic Harvest, a Danish start-up that wants to use technology to make food production more sustainable. YesHealth already runs in Taiwan the largest vertical farm in China.

It’s not actually a brand-new idea, as vertical farms have been around for almost a decade. They first took in Asia and the United States, which has the world’s biggest vertical farm, located in a steel mill in New Jersey and producing two million pounds of produce every year. But the idea is now also catching up in Europe.

“We offer a more sustainable way of producing food year-round, locally, without disturbing nature,” founder of Nordic Harvest, Anders Riemann, told Reuters. “We take some of the food production back into the cities where you can grow in a much smaller land and space-optimized in the height.”

The farm is installed in a 7,000 square meter hall and has 14 shelves of greens stacked up toward the ceiling in aluminum boxes. It’s all automated, with robots used to move the shelves into position and stack the produce. When fully operational, the farm will be hermetically sealed to secure the farming conditions.

Water consumption will be between 90% and 95% lower compared to traditional farming. No artificial fertilizers, pesticides, or other toxic chemicals will be used. About 200 tons of produce will be harvested in the first quarter of 2021 but this would reach 1,000 annually when the farm runs at full capacity by end of 2021.

The project also addresses one of the frequent criticism vertical farms have, the fact that they require a vast amount of electricity to provide artificial light — but for Denmark, that won’t be too big of a problem. The farm uses 20,000 specialized LEDs lightbulbs, manufactured by YesHealth, that are powered by renewable energy from Denmark’s extensive wind farms.

“A vertical farm is characterized by not harming the environment by recycling all the water and nutrition or fertilizer,” said Riemann. “In our case, we use 100% energy from windmills which makes us CO2-neutral.”

Denmark reported record-breaking wind power in 2019, covering 47% of the country’s electricity demands for the entire year. Out of the 47%, most came from onshore (29%), although offshore also generated a healthy amount (18%). The country expects to keep expanding renewables as a way to reduce its emissions.

by Fermin Koop

Source ZME Science

Sowing the seeds for a better food future in Asia

Posted on October 18, 2020 by dishanth

Global hunger has been on an indefensible rise for many years, and Asia—home to nearly half a billion of the world’s hungry and more than half of the world’s malnourished children—has not been spared. While global food systems have long been under stress, the Covid-19 pandemic pushed them to their breaking point, and the imperative to act has never been more important.

In a matter of weeks, Covid-19 laid bare the vulnerabilities in global food security, compounding previous levels of hunger with job losses, supply chain disruptions and declines in income. This has had a disproportionate impact on poor and vulnerable communities.

On the supply side, the price of staple food across the region, such as rice and wheat, was driven up by disruptions to production and distribution combined with panic buying. For example, retail prices of rice in Thailand rose about 20 per cent on average in January to April 2020 compared with the same months of 2019.

On the demand side, the pandemic has affected food consumption by eroding household incomes. Those working in the informal sector in the region (almost seven in 10 workers) are at particular risk. Their income is estimated to have fallen 22 per cent in the first month of the Covid-19 crisis, causing relative poverty rates to rise to 36 per cent from 22 per cent before the crisis.

Over the past few months, we have been reminded of the critical importance of a strong and functioning food system—one that empowers everyone to access the good food they need to maintain good health, and that sustains the planet’s resources.

Covid-19 has also exposed the risk of poor diets. There is growing evidence that what we eat fundamentally impacts how we experience Covid-19. In one investigation, the odds of hospitalisation were 16 times greater for people with obesity, diabetes or hypertension; 76 per cent of deaths from Covid-19 are among individuals with an underlying condition, many of which are diet-related. Troublingly, the Asia-Pacific region is home to the fastest growing rates of childhood obesity in the world, with children increasingly exposed to cheap and convenient unhealthy processed foods rich in salt, sugar and fat but poor in essential nutrients. This is tragic, and it is preventable.

If we are to change this trajectory, the food systems of the future must be healthy, reliable and equitable. They must balance the need for economic development and increasing demand for food with sustainability and conservation of natural resources. We can’t do this with patchwork improvements. A whole-systems approach is necessary if we are to succeed in transforming the global food system to nourish people and planet.

Fundamental shifts will be required to get there, because what we consume is about much more than daily individual choices of what to eat. Increasing the plate share of healthy foods, and decreasing the share of ultra-processed and nutrient-poor foods, requires action across government, the private sector, food producers and many other food sector actors. Together, we need to tackle challenges as diverse as advancing nutrition research to better understand the costs and benefits of our diets, ensuring our food systems are sustainably powered, growing the capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises to increase availability of healthy foods, changing policies to help communities affordably and equitably access good food, and investing in programmes to help children eat healthier meals. These are a few areas of work we are focused on at The Rockefeller Foundation.

Getting it right will necessitate bold thinking and action, and we are seeing local communities lead the way. That is why we launched the Food System Vision Prize, a global challenge to gather actionable visions from teams around the world on what our food systems can be. They represent the creativity and big ideas we need to nourish all people and sustain the planet into the next century.

Winners hail from around the world, including India and China. Eat Right India, for example, is working to create a national movement towards healthier diets through a systems-based approach of reducing food waste, improving hygiene and sanitation across the value chain, and increasing access to and affordability of healthy foods.

In China, “From Mama’s Kitchen to Metropolitan Beijing” is promoting a shift to plant-based diets through Good Food Hubs, a pilot community centre coupled with a smartphone app. The hub will serve as a kitchen lab, pop-up restaurant, learning centre, resource library and social media studio, which connects eco-farms and communities and nurtures healthy eating habits and nature through the creative use of technology.

Over the past few months, we have been reminded of the critical importance of a strong and functioning food system—one that empowers everyone to access the good food they need to maintain good health, and that sustains the planet’s resources.

To jump-start solutions like those proposed by the Food System Vision Prize finalists, we need dramatic, collective action. This World Food Day on 16 October is an opportunity to reaffirm our global commitment to healthy and affordable diets for all through bold vision and swift action. With a quarter of a billion people facing acute hunger by the end of the year, there’s no time to wait.

This article is co-authored by Sara Farley, managing director of The Rockefeller Foundation Food Initiative, and Deepali Khanna, managing director of The Rockefeller Foundation Asia Regional Office.

By Sara Farley and Deepali Khanna

Source: Eco Business

Boris Johnson pledges to protect 30% of UK land as world leaders sign commitment to act on climate crisis

Posted on September 29, 2020September 29, 2020 by dishanth

Boris Johnson will pledge to protect 30 per cent of the UK’s land by 2030, which will see an additional 400,000 hectares of land in England protected to support the recovery of nature.

The prime minister will make the pledge during a virtual United Nations event on Monday, where he is set to warn that countries must act to reverse the loss of biodiversity.

He will sign the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature at the event, alongside other world leaders including Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau and Jacinda Ardern, who are among 64 leaders from five continents warning that humanity is in a state of emergency due to the climate crisis.

The 10-point pledge aims to counteract the damage done to systems that underpin human health and wellbeing.

Currently, 26 per cent of land in England comprises of national parks, areas of outstanding beauty and other protected areas. Mr Johnson’s commitment will see an additional four per cent being protected, equivalent to the size of the Lake District and South Downs national parks combined.

Commitments outlined in the pledge include a renewed effort to reduce deforestation, stop unsustainable fishing practices, eliminate environmentally harmful subsidies and begin he transition to sustainable food production systems and circular economy over the next 10 years.

The pledge has been described as a “turning point” by which future generations will judge world leaders’ willingness to take action on the climate crisis.

Mr Johnson will say during the virtual event: “We must turn these words into action and use them to build momentum, to agree ambitious goals and binding targets.

“We must act now, right now. We cannot afford to dither and delay because biodiversity loss is happening today and it is happening at a frightening rate.

“Left unchecked, the consequences will be catastrophic for us all. Extinction is forever – so our action must be immediate.”

Environmental groups welcomed the commitment, but called on the UK government to invest in existing protected sites and put the new pledge into law.

Dr Richard Benwell, chief executive of The Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “Just eight per cent of England is currently protected for wildlife, so designating 30 per cent of land to restore nature would be a tremendous step forward…

“Of course, designation alone isn’t a guarantee of change. As with marine protection and existing terrestrial protected sites, strong management and investment are also needed.”

WWF-UK chief executive Tanya Steele said the announcement must be “backed up by urgent ambition”, calling for “strong legislation to avoid damaging trade deals and to stop the food we eat from destroying the environment”.

“Only then can we meet our climate targets, put nature on the path to recovery and set our sights on global leadership at Cop26,” she added.

Earlier this month, the UN announced that the world had failed to meet a single target to stop the destruction of nature. The WWF and the Zoological Society of London also released damning reports and studies in recent weeks, revealing the global populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles plunged by 68 per cent on average between 1970 and 2016.

By Kate Ng

Source: Independent

This is the effect coronavirus has had on air pollution all across the world

Posted on April 28, 2020July 27, 2020 by dishanth

The coronavirus pandemic has lead to an increase in air quality all around the world. Lockdowns have resulted in factories and roads shutting, thus reducing emissions.
These 11 visualizations, using data from NASA’s Global Modeling and Data Assimilation team, show the dramatic impact lockdown measures have had on pollution levels.

To contain the coronavirus pandemic, billions of people have been told to stay at home. In China, authorities placed almost half a billion people under lockdown, the equivalent of nearly 7% of the world’s population. Many other countries have since taken similar measures, initially in hard-hit Italy and Spain, and more recently in the United States and India.

The restrictions have sent financial markets into free fall. But they have also given residents in some of the world’s most polluted cities something they have not experienced in years: clean air.

Reuters visualisations, based on data from NASA’s Global Modeling and Data Assimilation team, show how concentrations of some pollutants fell drastically after the lockdowns started.

Satellite observations record information on aerosols in the atmosphere. NASA’s model is then able to provide estimates of the distribution of these pollutants close to the Earth’s surface.

China

The maps below show how levels of PM2.5 nitrate fell in China’s Hubei province after the government imposed travel restrictions. Nitrate is one of the components that make up PM2.5, tiny particles, about 3% of the diameter of human hair, that can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, leading to heart disease, strokes or cancer.

Nitrate aerosols are formed from nitrogen compounds, which can be emitted by human activities, especially burning fuel and diesel.

“We may soon learn how much of an impact this temporary pause in pollution has had on human health and the environment, but the clearest takeaway from this event is how satellite measurements of nitrogen compounds can be used as an indicator of economic activity,” said Ryan Stauffer, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Ground station metrics from Wuhan, where the pandemic originated, show how certain pollutants including nitrogen dioxide were at record lows during the first few months of the year.

Some of the major sources of nitrogen dioxide are vehicle exhausts, power plants and wastewater treatment plants.

Scientists say nitrogen dioxide pollution has been steadily decreasing over the last few years. However, the lockdown may have contributed to this year’s drop.

The following charts show monthly averages of pollutants over the last seven years.

South Korea

In early March, South Korea reported a large increase in COVID-19 cases. Since then, ground stations have been measuring the lowest levels of some pollutants for seven years. Although South Korea did not impose major restrictions on residents, changes in daily activity could have contributed to the drop.

Italy

Similar patterns unfolded across Italy following the introduction of a nationwide lockdown on March 9. Restrictions had already been implemented in late February in some northern regions, where COVID-19 cases had surged.

The industrial belt across northern Italy often experiences high levels of air pollution, but estimates show otherwise this year.

Of the pollutants that fell most significantly in northern Italy, nitrogen dioxide stood out, according to data recorded at ground stations. Bergamo, one of the provinces most affected by the virus, has experienced improvements in air quality.

India

Every winter, New Delhi and other big cities in the north are enveloped in a blanket of smog as farmers burn crop residue. The air tends to clear a little in spring.

However, in the first few months of this year, India experienced a significant decline in some pollutants. The lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the country’s 1.3 billion people could be a major contributing factor. However, there may also be other factors impacting air quality, according to Pallavi Pant, an air quality scientist at the Health Effects Institute in Boston.

“Air pollution levels are often influenced by local meteorology, like temperature or wind speed. Several early analyses are showing declines in air pollution in regions where shutdowns have taken place. However, any such analyses should consider all relevant factors.” Pallavi Pant told Reuters.

Ground stations in northern India also show a downward trend in overall PM2.5, according to data from local authorities.

Beyond improvements in outdoor air quality, scientists are also curious how lockdowns have affected indoor air quality, with millions of people staying at home for far longer than usual.

“As we continue to talk about improvements in outdoor air quality, people are spending a lot more time indoors and the exposure patterns for indoor air pollution might be different at this time too,” said Pant.

Written by

Marco Hernandez, Data Visualization Developer, Reuters Graphics

This article was published in collaboration with Reuters Graphics.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

This is the carbon footprint of your internet activity

Posted on March 6, 2020March 3, 2020 by dishanth

Data centres processing and storing the world’s data already use around 1% of the electricity we generate, according to the IEA.
Computing is expected to account for up to 8% of global power demand by 2030.
The emissions associated with everyday computing could be surprisingly high.

A stone’s throw from a power station on the barren outskirts of Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, a grey warehouse surrounded by metal containers hums to the sound of money.

Inside, hundreds of computer servers work continuously to solve complicated mathematical equations generating the digital currency Bitcoin – burning enough electricity to power tens of thousands of homes in the process.

“Any high-performance computing … is energy intensive,” explained Joe Capes of global blockchain company The Bitfury Group, which operates the facility in Tbilisi.

Cryptocurrencies are one of several new technologies, like artificial intelligence and 5G networks, that climate experts worry could derail efforts to tackle global warming by consuming ever-growing amounts of power.

Data centres processing and storing data from online activities, such as sending emails and streaming videos, already account for about 1% of global electricity use, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Sending one less ‘thank you’ email a day could save 16,433 tonnes of carbon a year.
Image: Statista

That’s about the same amount of electricity that Australia consumes in a year.

But as societies become more digitalised, computing is expected to account for up to 8% of the world’s total power demand by 2030, according to some estimates, raising fears this could lead to the burning of more fossil fuels.

“If we don’t take into account the carbon footprint, we are going to have a climate change nightmare coming from information technology,” said Babak Falsafi, a professor of computer and communication science at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne.

Efficient Data

One solution is to improve the efficiency of data centres, which is something operators are naturally prone to do since electricity accounts for a large share of their running costs, according to data experts.

“As a rule of thumb, a megawatt costs a million dollars per year … This obviously catches management’s attention,” said Dale Sartor, who oversees the U.S. Department of Energy’s Center of Expertise for Data Centers in Berkeley, California.

Energy demand from data centres in the United States has remained largely flat over the past decade as improvements in computing have allowed processors to do more with the same amount of power, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

But that is set to change, predict tech analysts.

The 50-year-old trend known as Moore’s Law, which has seen computer chips double in capacity every two years, is expected to slow down as it becomes harder to add any more transistors to a chip.

Some companies have been looking at other ways to make savings.

In Georgia, where most electricity is generated by hydropower, Bitfury deployed a system to reduce the energy needed to cool down its heating servers.

Cooling can account for up to half of a data centre’s total energy use, the company says.

While some of its processors are still cooled with outside air, others are immersed inside metal tanks filled with a special liquid with a low boiling point.

As the liquid boils, the vapour transfers heat away from the processors, keeping them fresh and allowing the company to do away with fans and save water.

“Air is free … but it is not efficient,” explained Capes, who heads Bitfury’s liquid cooling technology subsidiary, adding that the system consumes 40% less electricity than traditional air cooling solutions.

Others have taken similar steps.

A Google data centre in Finland uses recycled seawater to reduce energy use while some companies have opened facilities near the Arctic Circle to benefit from naturally cold air.

But improving efficiency “can only get you so far”, said Elizabeth Jardim, a senior corporate campaigner at environmental group Greenpeace. “At some point you will have to address the type of energy that is powering the facility.”

Tech giants including Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft have committed to using only renewable energy but some still use fossil fuels, and more needs to be done to bring others on board, she said.

Jardim suggested governments enact policies to incentivise tech companies to procure green energy and increase transparency around the data sector’s carbon footprint.

Less Cat Videos

Meanwhile, internet users can also play a role by switching to greener companies or simply reducing their data use, said Jardim.

“Right now data pretty much is equivalent to energy, so the more data something takes the more energy you can assume it’s using,” she said.

Simply sending a photo by email can emit about the same amount of planet-warming gases as driving a car for a kilometre, said Luigi Carafa, executive director of the Climate Infrastructure Partnership, a Barcelona-based non-profit.

“The problem is we don’t really see this, so we don’t perceive it as a problem at all,” he said by phone.

A 2019 study by energy supplier OVO Energy found that if Britons sent one less email a day the country could reduce its carbon output by the equivalent of more than 81,000 flights from London to Madrid.

Global online video viewings alone generated as many carbon emissions as the whole of Spain in 2018, according to French think tank The Shift Project.

“People can already reduce their carbon emissions today if they stop watching cat videos,” said Falsafi, the Lausanne professor, who heads the university’s research centre for sustainable computing, EcoCloud.

“Unfortunately, they are neither aware of the issue nor incentivised to reduce carbon emissions.”

Written by

Umberto Bacchi, Journalist,

This article is published in collaboration with Reuters

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.