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World's biggest rooftop greenhouse opens in Montreal:
Building on a new hanging garden trend, a greenhouse [built] atop a Montreal warehouse growing eggplants and tomatoes to meet demand for locally sourced foods has set a record as the largest in the world.
It's not an obvious choice of location to cultivate organic vegetables—in the heart of Canada's second-largest city—but Lufa Farms on Wednesday inaugurates the facility that spans 160,000 square feet (15,000 square meters), or about the size of three football fields.
[...] It is the fourth rooftop greenhouse the company has erected in the city. The first, built in 2011 at a cost of more than Can$2 million (US$1.5 million), broke new ground.
Since then, competitors picked up and ran with the novel idea, including American Gotham Greens, which constructed eight greenhouses on roofs in New York, Chicago and Denver, and French Urban Nature, which is planning one in Paris in 2022.
A local Montreal supermarket has also offered since 2017 an assortment of vegetables grown on its roof, which was "greened" in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.
The company estimates its rooftop gardens can feed 2% of Montreal's population now.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Thursday August 27 2020, @08:19PM (3 children)
I'm guessing this is only cost-effective if the first floors radiates enough excess heat for the greenhouses.
compiling...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday August 27 2020, @10:39PM (2 children)
Well, heat rises, and buildings generally lose heat through their roof, so the greenhouse trapping that heat in the winter should help with the building's energy usage. So while probably not the greatest technique for Phoenix, it sounds like a pretty good plan for Montreal.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday August 28 2020, @03:32AM
It could work in Phoenix, too. You just need a spacer in between the green house and the building to let air flow through. Then the building is shaded.
OTOH, I'm not sure how much of a greenhouse Phoenix would need. You'd want something that let the light in, but retained humidity, and screened out a lot of the heat (at least in summer). That sounds like something a bit different from a greenhouse.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @04:54PM
I'm skeptical about the feasibility of rooftop greenhouses in colder climates. There will need to be a constant stream of waste heat and you'd probably still need more energy for heating in winter with the huge losses you'll be taking through the glass. Then you have to worry about the extra cooling and AC you'll need due to the greenhouse raising the entire building's temperature and humidity during the summer.