Wednesday, April 15, 2009

April 09 - Zome construction

Why a Zome? Why local food production? Why should we care?



PROBLEM · Though accounting for only 5 % of the world’s population, American’s consume 26% of the world’s energy. Using about 15 times more energy per person than the typical developing country.



 Of all U.S. business sectors, agriculture is the largest consumer of both electricity and water. · About 19% of America’s energy use goes to our food system. (a close second to cars) · This means that approximately 5% of the world’s energy resources are going to agriculture just in the U.S.



400 gallons of oil are used to feed one person per year. · The average distance food travels 
“from field to fork” is 1,500 miles



However most of the fossil fuel usage in the food production goes to producing synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Processing (drying, milling, cutting, sorting, baking) packaging, warehousing and refrigeration of food is another major energy guzzler.



 It takes 10 calories of fossil fuel energy to produce a single calorie of supermarket food and gain-feed beef requires 35 calories for every calorie of beef produced.



Globally, seven percent of energy is used to deliver water; Most of the electricity used by agriculture goes to pump groundwater at a cost of almost $1.2 billion each year.



In California farmers use 20 percent of the total U.S. agricultural electricity, or about 10,000 gigawatt-hours (GWH) per year. 



Water transportation accounts for 16% of the energy consumption by freight transport (USDT). · The USDA estimates that making all our farmland’s irrigation systems just 10% more efficient would annually save eighty million gallons of diesel spent pumping and applying the water.



MODELS In 1945, America grew 40% of their food supply in backyards, schools, and community gardens as part of the ‘Victory Gardens’ campaign.



In Moscow, two thirds of families grow their own foodIn Havana, Cuba, over 80% of produce consumed in the city comes from urban gardens. 



BARRIERS Limited space for food production in U.S. urban areas
Weather limitations in certain parts of the country



SOLUTIONS · If everybody in the US ate just ONE meal a week composed of locally and organically grown produce, we would reduce our county’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million BARRELS of oil EVERY week



The equation is simple: the closer the food production, the less fuel is needed to transport it; this also eliminates packaging from the waste stream. Plus food will be fresher requiring less processing thus making it more nutritious.



 The greenhouse allows people to harness the sun’s energy to grow their own food.



The modular design of the greenhouse is light and easy to assemble and can be used anywhere from suburban lawns to urban rooftops. Due to the modular design it can be expanded or contracted in size to fit any space.



RESULTS · In addition to reducing a tremendous amount of fossil fuel consumption, and providing fresh local produce, urban greenhouses like these serve as air filters, help recycle wastes, absorb rainfall, present pleasing green spaces, provide food security, jobs, educate kids and revitalize communities.












Sunday, April 5, 2009

April 09- Zome Production

The Algarden Greenhouse Zome Production Day


Ready to work!



All the pieces that we assembled at the shop


Painting the outside pieces


Building the trex  ring base



Ahmed pounding the re bar


Mike drilling the base together


Rob and Giancarlo


Carli and David painting away


Annelise and Anthony helping with the paint



The plastic was cut to match the frames- Dan got blister from all his precise exacto knife cuttings


The plastic was then stapled to the frame



Alex was Mr. task master and made sure all the staples were properly placed 


Once the plastic is set then we matched the frames with the back frame


Ahmed was on quality control 


There was chilling down time too



Royal getting his first farming experience



P power


Paul showing his support


Jenn and Brian were there helping even with a broken leg


Annelise documented the entire process


Amph and Taca


Carli and David





Once all the pieces were ready, Rob began attaching them


Each piece has an HDPE strip that connects it to the other






Slidind the pieces together was very easy




Anthony and Rob starting to attach the bottom pieces to the base ring


Looking good


And that was it for that day. It was getting late and we were all tired from a long day of work- till next weekend.