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
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!
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
Over 6 months ago I started my MSc thesis – and now the project’s finished. This is a cursory but technical article where I share some of the results with you. A quick recap: There are many ways of controlling Continue reading Climate Control Using a Genetic Algorithm (Part 2)
Azerbaijan’s not a place I hear about every day. But there is a lot going on when it comes to agriculture. What about the horticultural industry? Over to Nijat, who works in a greenhouse and looks into new technologies for the industry… Continue reading What’s Happening in Azerbaijan?
Indoor agriculture is touted as sustainable, but it requires a lot of materials – plastics, rockwool, and packaging, for example. How can these be made more circular? Continue reading Biobased Materials: Where Should They Come From, Where Should They Go?
Back in 1947, computer science pioneer Alan Turing foresaw machines that could learn from experience. 73 years later, everyone seems to be yapping on about ‘big data’ and ‘machine learning’, as I have on this blog as well. Where conventional programming starts Continue reading LetsGrow Using Data in Greenhouses
Last week, Heeren XVII, the biosystems engineers’ society at Wageningen University, organised an evening featuring three companies in the greenhouse horticulture industry. The first of these was Ammerlaan Construction (known as Maurice Kassenbouw in The Netherlands and Belgium), presented by Continue reading The Untapped Energy in Water Vapour