this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
231 points (95.3% liked)

Technology

59217 readers
2773 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Breakthrough: "Electronic soil" boosts crop growth by over 50%::This research introduces an innovative approach to soilless cultivation, or hydroponics, by integrating electronic soil, or eSoil.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It doesn't actually take that much juice these days. On top of being able to use solar and wind generated power we also have leds that barely use any electricity to run.

Aside from the initial investment for the setup, the ongoing energy and resources needed for hydro and aero are most definitely going to be less than dirt farming especially when you factor in being able to grow year round. And don't forget the reduced amount of fertilizer and water usage. The water isn't lost to the ground with only a small amount of it being used by the plants.

Basically this is like ev versus ice. When you don't factor in everything, one looks better than the other but with all things considered, ev is way better than ice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

being able to grow year round

You can grow year round with low-tunnels (conduit and greenhouse plastic).

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

There's these peaky things called "seasons" where the amount of sunlight fluctuates, sometimes dramatically based on latitude