Indoor farms are remaking the produce market — at a cost to the planet (wapo.st)

submitted 7 months ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/climate@slrpnk.net

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Energy use in the industry varies widely depending on greenhouse size and what crops are being grown. A study of 12 indoor farms by the nonprofit Resource Innovation Institute found that five of them used as much energy, per square foot, as a hospital. One vertical farm, an outlier, was guzzling as much energy as a data center.

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[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 points 7 months ago

I agree that it is worth looking at this in a more distinguished way, but carbon budgets for large farms rarely take into account the carbon emissions produced by organic soil loss, besides the vast negative effects that has otherwise. Indoor farms on the other hand can be pretty carbon neutral after their initial construction, assuming that the electricity they use comes from renewable energy sources.

this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2024

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