‘greening the greenhouse’ at the living rainforest: from biomass to ec flagship? low carbon...

‘Greening the Greenhouse’ at The Living Rainforest:

From Biomass to EC Flagship?

Low Carbon Buildings Programme 2, Opening Event, BRE Watford, 2 June 2008

Creating a sustainability experience, connecting global and local issues

& promoting sustainable ways of living to

safeguard future communities and ecosystems

Integrated Greenhouse ProjectPhase 0 (2003/4)

SEEDA 2003Seed funding - £40k

GreenSys 2004Established partnerships with Professor Gerard Bot and team at Wageningen University, and the renewable energy team at TV Energy

EC Life Environment Unit

2.3m € funding Integrated Greenhouse

Project

Integrated Greenhouse ProjectPhase 1 (2005/6)

Human Impact Building

Purpose: To demonstrate sustainable low-carbon design, operation and use

Our Heating Journey… from oil to local wood chip

... the first public indoor rainforest garden to convert to wood chip heating

CO2 emissions per unit of energy supplied

0

50

100

150

200

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Gra

ms

of

CO

2 p

er

kW

h

Woodfuelled heat

Wind power

Solar PV m-si

Solar PV p-Si

Natural gas heating

Light fuel oil heating

• Integration, part 1: biomass & oil

– continuity of supply?– put all heating devices ‘behind the heat storage

bunker’?

• Integration, part 2: ground source heat storage & biomass

Some Lessons

Integrated Greenhouse ProjectPhase 2 (2007/8)

Green Greenhouse / Vertical Soil Heat Exchanger (VSHE)

The Problem

Unsustainable food (crop) production in energy-wasteful greenhouses, using non-renewable energy

Lack of integration of greenhouses with other buildings

Lack of investment in low-carbon design

Confusion about what is ‘best practice’ among growers and government

Download presentations at www.livingrainforest.org/seminardownloads.htm

Direct energy expended by various sectors of agriculture in the UK by use in 2005

(from: Warwick HRI 2007).

Horticulture 101• Fruit & vegetables account for 2.5-3%

of UK greenhouse gas emissions (Garnett, 2006)

• UK horticulture accounts for about 28% of all energy used in UK agriculture

• UK protected crops covering 749 ha used 3,318 GWh / year (Warwick HRI, 2007)

Integrated Greenhouse ProjectPhase 2 (2007/8)

Green Greenhouse / Vertical Soil Heat Exchanger (VSHE)

Let’s build a sustainable future

together • Blue sky thinking is needed

• Boldness or bust

• Beyond immediate CO2 reductions to potential for long term behaviour change (production methods, consumption patterns)

Good Luck!

The Living Rainforestwww.livingrainforest.org

Integrated Greenhouse Projectwww.livingrainforest.org/ig T: (01635) 202444

Karl Hansenkarl.hansen@livingrainforest.org