A Gentle Rant About CO2 and ‘Circular’ Greenwashing

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

Hello 2023!

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!

Three Continents, Three Aquaponics Systems (Guest Post by Cindy Achieng)

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)

Circular Urban Farming at GreenTech 2020

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

Water Usage in Zero-Emission Greenhouses

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 at GreenTech

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