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<TITLE>Re: [Greenbuilding] Growing food by electeric light - urban sustainability?</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Is kwh a kosher unit-of-measure for diesel-powered transportation?<BR>
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On 6/10/12 10:19 AM, "Corwyn" <<a href="corwyn@midcoast.com">corwyn@midcoast.com</a>> wrote:<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Consolas, Courier New, Courier"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>On 6/10/2012 9:21 AM, sanjay jain wrote:<BR>
> <a href="http://www.urbansustainable.org">http://www.urbansustainable.org</a> is encouraging city dwellers to grow<BR>
> food indoors using electricity.<BR>
><BR>
> I asked one of the staff if it's more sustainable to grow food locally<BR>
> using electricity than buying food at a store, he said yes!<BR>
><BR>
> Not convinced? Are you?<BR>
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'yes' is hardly a convincing argument. About like spelling 'fact'.<BR>
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Quick back-of-the-envelope calculation:<BR>
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Plants convert about 2% of the energy they receive into stored energy <BR>
that we can digest. Lettuce, for example, could have 80 calories per <BR>
pound. Or 93 watt-hours. Which would require 4.65 kWh of electricity.<BR>
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Trucking lettuce on the other hand, (according to Elliot Coleman) takes <BR>
about 1.18 kWh per pound from California to Maine.<BR>
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So, I guess put me in the 'not convinced' category.<BR>
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***<BR>
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Seriously though, don't these people have roofs? Are they already full <BR>
of vegetables?<BR>
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Thank You Kindly,<BR>
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Corwyn<BR>
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