Increased Light Efficiency in  Vertical Farms

Vertical farming is the most innovative form of agriculture today, yet it is critically underutilized. One article from NBC News estimates that 50,000 people could be fed from a single self-sustaining building. So why are entrepreneurs not investing? The main issue seems to be cost. Year-round, lower level plants need artificial lighting to grow-- in winter conditions with less sunlight overall, every level of plants requires artificial lighting. The amount of electricity needed to power these buildings leads to expenses that discourage many investors. (NBC News, 2013).

Our team believes that by designing architecturally innovative buildings, vertical farming could assimilate into urban areas. Our structures would be designed to optimize the amount of light that reaches bottom levels -- thus, eliminating the extreme cost of artificial lighting that turns many investors away. Our hope is to successfully create models that prove our structure’s worth, increasing the amount of light observed at lower levels and decreasing estimated cost accordingly.

Included in our proposal is the history of vertical farming and the issues with horizontal agricultural systems that many farmers currently use. Our team’s hope is to create models, both virtual and physical, that prove plants on lower levels of vertical farms can receive similar amounts of sunlight than plants at higher levels. With this even light distribution, we also propose that vertical farming can grow plants as healthy as those found in traditional farms. The data we collect can be charted into results based on light intensity and then assessed by our professionals to narrow blueprints to the most plant-efficient, cost-efficient vertical farm since their inception in 600 B.C..