Growing lettuce on stacked shelves in high-tech greenhouses could be as good for the environment as growing them in fields and could save 8,000 hectares of land in the UK, according to a new study from the University of Surrey and the University of Aberdeen.
Growing lettuce on stacked shelves in high-tech greenhouses could be as good for the environment as growing them in fields and could save 8,000 hectares of land in the UK, according to a new study from the University of Surrey and the University of Aberdeen.
In vertical farms, shelves of crops like lettuce or herbs are stacked on top of each other in a controlled environment. Plants can grow without soil – drip-fed with nutrient-rich water or even with mist sprayed onto their exposed roots.
In the lettuce farm studied, electricity use made up nearly 40% of its total climate change impact. As such, the climate impact of vertical farming depends a lot on how that electricity is generated.
Read More: University of Surrey
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