According to Matthew Stock, reporting to Reuters, the shipping containers that return empty to Asia could be a useful vessel for growing vegetables, all it needs is the help of a “collapsible hydroponic farm”, called Grow Frame.
On an annual basis millions of “shipping containers” travel across the oceans, while among the five continents Asia is one such continent, wherein import business is left far behind by its export businesses, which provides an explanation for the Asian export shipping containers to return home empty. As per Philippe Hohlfeld, a design student at Royal College of Art, this empty return journey of the shipping containers are “a terrible waste of space”; in his words:
"Half of all containers going to China are empty. And that means, right now, 13 million containers annually are travelling around with just air. And when I heard about that I thought 'no, that's not a problem, that's an opportunity'."
Therefore, he comes up with his solution of “Grow Frame” which is nothing but a “collapsible hydroponic farm” capable of growing vegetables inside the empty shipping containers when they travel the seas across the globe. Philippe adds:
"I thought about an autonomous process that works in an enclosed environment over three weeks and that brings a real benefit to China and that can be as collapsible as possible; so it can be as small as possible."
With the help of Grow Frame of Philippe, plats are grown in “small individual plastic bags” which carry the much needed “water and nutrients”, while the process of photosynthesis gets triggered by turning on LED right which adjustable so as to provide “precisely the right spectrum of light” required for “precisely the right spectrum of light” required for “optimal growth”.
Phillippe informs that growing mushrooms with Grow Frame would be helpful for maintaining “a healthy micro eco-system”, as he says:
"I'm growing cabbages, spinach, lettuces and beansprouts. All these plants create oxygen as we know, and it's really good in nature because it balances with animals. But in the container it could be a problem; so I'm introducing mushrooms which turn the oxygen back into CO2 because they respirate the same way that we do. And that way the whole system keeps itself in check."
Moreover, Philippe stated that the reusability of the system has a “potential profitability” which could rapidly recover the “initial” costs, while Reuters informs that:
“He's now looking for funding to help turn his proof-of-concept design into a working prototype.”
References:
http://www.reuters.com/
On an annual basis millions of “shipping containers” travel across the oceans, while among the five continents Asia is one such continent, wherein import business is left far behind by its export businesses, which provides an explanation for the Asian export shipping containers to return home empty. As per Philippe Hohlfeld, a design student at Royal College of Art, this empty return journey of the shipping containers are “a terrible waste of space”; in his words:
"Half of all containers going to China are empty. And that means, right now, 13 million containers annually are travelling around with just air. And when I heard about that I thought 'no, that's not a problem, that's an opportunity'."
Therefore, he comes up with his solution of “Grow Frame” which is nothing but a “collapsible hydroponic farm” capable of growing vegetables inside the empty shipping containers when they travel the seas across the globe. Philippe adds:
"I thought about an autonomous process that works in an enclosed environment over three weeks and that brings a real benefit to China and that can be as collapsible as possible; so it can be as small as possible."
With the help of Grow Frame of Philippe, plats are grown in “small individual plastic bags” which carry the much needed “water and nutrients”, while the process of photosynthesis gets triggered by turning on LED right which adjustable so as to provide “precisely the right spectrum of light” required for “precisely the right spectrum of light” required for “optimal growth”.
Phillippe informs that growing mushrooms with Grow Frame would be helpful for maintaining “a healthy micro eco-system”, as he says:
"I'm growing cabbages, spinach, lettuces and beansprouts. All these plants create oxygen as we know, and it's really good in nature because it balances with animals. But in the container it could be a problem; so I'm introducing mushrooms which turn the oxygen back into CO2 because they respirate the same way that we do. And that way the whole system keeps itself in check."
Moreover, Philippe stated that the reusability of the system has a “potential profitability” which could rapidly recover the “initial” costs, while Reuters informs that:
“He's now looking for funding to help turn his proof-of-concept design into a working prototype.”
References:
http://www.reuters.com/
