[Greenbuilding] Growing food by electeric light - urban sustainability?

[Jason Holstine]

Is kwh a kosher unit-of-measure for diesel-powered transportation?


On 6/10/12 10:19 AM, "Corwyn" <corwyn at midcoast.com> wrote:

> On 6/10/2012 9:21 AM, sanjay jain wrote:
>> > http://www.urbansustainable.org is encouraging city dwellers to grow
>> > food indoors using electricity.
>> >
>> > I asked one of the staff if it's more sustainable to grow food locally
>> > using electricity than buying food at a store, he said yes!
>> >
>> > Not convinced? Are you?
> 
> 'yes' is hardly a convincing argument.  About like spelling 'fact'.
> 
> Quick back-of-the-envelope calculation:
> 
> Plants convert about 2% of the energy they receive into stored energy
> that we can digest.  Lettuce, for example, could have 80 calories per
> pound.  Or 93 watt-hours.  Which would require 4.65 kWh of electricity.
> 
> Trucking lettuce on the other hand, (according to Elliot Coleman) takes
> about 1.18 kWh per pound from California to Maine.
> 
> So, I guess put me in the 'not convinced' category.
> 
> ***
> 
> Seriously though, don't these people have roofs?  Are they already full
> of vegetables?
> 
> Thank You Kindly,
> 
> Corwyn

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