With This Greenhouse It Is Now Possible To Grow Crops In The Desert

This right here is nothing short of a major game changer!!

As they say "Necessity is the mother of innovation" and this amazing non-profit Roots Up is proving it with this revolutionary new method of combating drought!

Greenhouse for the win for farmers in drought conditions!

The greenhouse traps hot air and humidity during the heat of the day, creating a better atmosphere for plant growth and then at night, a rope can be pulled that opens up a latch at the top of the greenhouse that lets cool air in, eventually reaching the dew point and creating condensation. The water droplets are channeled into a collection cistern and can be used for drinking water or for irrigation. In times of rain, the design can also be used as a rainwater collector.

Honestly it is this kind of creativity that will solve the myriad of problems that are facing us! Here is a link to their website, these are the kinds of grass roots efforts we should be collectively helping!

Great job to all at Roots UP

They do have a indiegogo fund going if anyone would like to help! Be sure to check out their vision! Gotta love the Visionaries!!

I'll have to look into it a bit more, but coming from someone who lives in a desert, this looks pretty promising...

a reply to: AdmireTheDistance

With the coming water shortage I have a feeling this kind of technology will be employed in far more place than one, if they are able to pull this off, they just increased the arable land by a very lare percentage!

That sounds really cool system! Imagine if some years we would use the money from war-machine industry towards things like this, what would or could our world look like in few years.

Nice, this is a solar still, with plants growing in it.

This same technique is used to extract water in survival situations where there is no fresh water, but plant material available.

Dig a big hole, fill with leaves, seaweed etc, place plastic over it, weigh down edges, rock on center centralizes drips from moisture into a collection container.

I can see major issues with overheating in the desert sun and staying at a temp live plants can handle though.
I would like to see the entire growth process before considering investing.

The site linked states they plan to launch this in Ethiopia. The problem with this concept is not that it would not work, but that it requires significant investment. Almost no-one in Ethiopia or for the fact in any poor third world country could afford to set this up unless they were wealthy. And in a western setup, say Arizona, would it be cost effective to compete with the regular greenhouses already in use in other areas with better climes? Maybe not...

I don't see this greenhouse as 'harvesting' any water. It looks to me to just trying to recapture the water that plants lose during hot temperatures of the day. Which is a good thing as well, but you still need to add water to the system for plant growth.

There are systems to harvest water from air. It's a bit more complicated that this of course.

It's a simple, low tech way of obtaining clean water.

It's a good idea.

Going slightly higher tech though would produce much more drinking water...a few solar cells, some peltier chips and an enclosed space would create a refrigeration effect (the peltier effect) and create more condensation during the day and reversing the current from batteries charged during the day, would provide condensed water day and night.

a reply to: Mandroid7

Can also find a leafy, living tree and just tie a clear plastic bag over a branch of foliage..the expirated water will collect in the bag.

Enough plastic bags and plenty of trees and you'd have more water than you'd need in a short time.

a reply to: Mandroid7

Nice!

I did not realize that is what it is called and that you can recreate it in the manner that you speak!

Thank you for the well informed post!

a reply to: TatTvamAsi

I had thought about that, the investment is something that is the true issue!

Perhaps we could get the ever benevolent Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to put their money where their mouths are, do not worry, I will not hold my breath!