To fight the impending food crisis, an architecture company in Barcelona has come up with a design for a floating farm.
As the global population rises and both land and water become scarce, sustainable farming will become even more difficult than it is now. Smart Floating Farms, as they are called, could revolutionize food production. However, many scientists doubt that sustainable farming will truly be able to solve the coming global food crisis.
Forward Thinking Architecture’s design requires 2.2 million square feet which would run entirely off of renewable energy. Wind turbines and solar panels on the roof take advantage of the exposure that comes from being on the ocean while wave energy is captured below.
Included is a hydroponic garden, a slaughter house, fish farm, desalination plant, and a packaging facility. Everything on the floating farm is also designed to be self-sufficient, so the entire operation does not actually require that many human laborers.
The company wants to cater to large cities, the parts of the world that often have the least access to sustainable food. Each farm would produce 1.7 tons of fish and 8 tons of vegetables every year, and it would only take 10 years for the facility to pay for itself.
Scientists warn that the start-up costs of sustainable farms are simply too high for even a great project like this to work without help from the government. University of California-Davis professor has estimated that the floating farm may cost more than they expect.
However, Forward Thinking Architecture are going to keep working. CEO Javier Ponce says they are fully aware of the limitations, and that they are using that knowledge to make the concept stronger and more viable. Ponce sent an email to Tech Insider explaining that the company is tweaking the design in order to make it happen.
Images (c) Forward Thinking Architecture
