Examining CO2 reminded me of some common misconceptions about circularity. These misconceptions are more common than I had expected, and lead to unhelpful greenwashing. They apply to all material flows, but CO2 is a good example. Continue reading A Gentle Rant About CO2 and ‘Circular’ Greenwashing
Despite occasionally writing about architecture, I am not really an architect. But you know what I definitely am not? A baker. I am more an architect than I ever will be a baker. Still, in this article, I am going Continue reading Some Observations About Baking
It’s been even longer, hasn’t it? I’m still here though. Perhaps I haven’t been blogging as much because as a researcher, the writer’s bandwidth I would have used here has been taken up by projects at work. Still, this evening I felt an itch to write a bit about what’s happened over the past year, and some plans for 2023 and beyond. Continue reading Hello 2023!
Alternate title: It’s Our Future – Let’s Shape It! A good friend of mine is a modernist architect – well, a ‘futurist’, even. She admires the work of architects like Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas, often described as ‘futuristic’. As someone who Continue reading Which Future Do We Want?
Thought I was gone? 2021 has been quite a year. Here’s an update on some of the things that have happened and what I’m expecting in 2022 (after another year in which we’ve come to expect the unexpected). Full circle: Continue reading A Quick Update Before 2022
It is an honour to be having our first guest post here on Alex Grows Up. Over a year ago I met Cindy Achieng, who was a guest at our Toastmasters meeting. She later became a member and is now doing a fantastic job as the President of our club! Not only that – she has quite some experience in aquaponics. Cindy, the floor is yours… Continue reading Three Continents, Three Aquaponics Systems (Guest Post by Cindy Achieng)
The circular economy is something I was happy to see feature heavily at GreenTech 2020. It seemed to be on everyone’s mind when discussing sustainability, and there was even a dedicated session on it. The topic: vertical farming’s role in the circular economy. Continue reading Circular Urban Farming at GreenTech 2020
Achieving zero emissions in greenhouses is a big challenge. I’m not just talking about CO2 emissions. Greenhouses emit fertiliser and pesticides into the environment as well (see this article for more background on that). Water is only 2-3% of a Continue reading Water Usage in Zero-Emission Greenhouses
Energy efficiency is a big theme in greenhouse horticulture. I’ve called it the elephant in the room for vertical farming, but greenhouses have the advantage that most of their energy is free: solar energy. Still, a lot is being done on making the most of that solar energy and minimising fossil fuel consumption. A lot of that is in line with the circular economy as well. This is a summary of what four speakers at the energy session at GreenTech brought up. Continue reading Energy Efficiency at GreenTech
Priva is the market leader in high-tech greenhouse horticulture, with the long-term vision that comes with a family business. I’ve been following them for a few years now. In 2016 I spent two days at Priva and visited UrbanFarmers De Schilde and BrightBox in Venlo. Continue reading Working at Phil