News

1/1/2008

Treading lightly (Part 1)

Co-op member breaks new ground, blending renewable technology and green growing for sustainability.

by EILEEN TUTTLE
photos provided by BARRY ADLER

Today is the sixth day in a row without sun. Every now and
then the wind gusts up as the rain moves through, but the turbine isn't moving very often. The back-up batteries will be empty soon and the sun isn't forecast to come out until next week.

Winter is a challenge at RainFresh Harvests. But this small
farm outside Plain City may be the only place with fresh herbs
available in January. Barry Adler harvests year round here in his
bio-integrated greenhouse. And he knows next spring he'll have
power to spare when the sun shines.

More than just plants, this system is a living thing. Adler
collects water, filters it naturally, then hydrates crops. It drains
into fish tanks then waters the grass which is food for worms.
the worms produce compost, the compost produces plants, the sun and the wind power it all.

“I'm trying to make the best use of the resources that we have
and have the least impact possible," he says.

Blending technology with organic growing practices, Adler
is venturing into new territory. Fortunately, he has the leg up on
most people who would consider a venture like this. With a masters degree in horticulture and 22 years in research and horticultural business management, he came into the project with a lot of figurative mud on his boots.

An interest in renewable energy led him to a part-time job with Green Energy Ohio (GEO) while he sought ideas for a horticultural project at home. GEO's connections proved invaluable as the concept of his self-sustaining farm was born.

This roughly $70,000 project is the result of Adler's brainstorming and some creative funding. The Ohio Dept of Development Office of Energy Efficiency provided the core financing in cooperation with a matching grant from Innovative Farmers of Ohio. The USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program provides some funds for sustainable agriculture practices.

With one eye on the caveat that 80 percent of new businesses
fail in the first five years, and the other on his unique business
model, Adler is conservatively confident, but adds, "I'm still not
at the point where I'm able to profit enough from what I'm selling
to recover my investment."

Construction began in December 2004. Of course, there
were two years of research in place before construction began,
and there is one last piece of the system still to complete: the automated solar curtains.

The curtains have been the most troublesome feature of the
farm's system. When they work properly, the automated mylar
curtains roll into place at night to keep heat captured during the
day from escaping. "I'm losing more than I can collect, and I
don't want to have to add more solar collectors," says Adler. In
the mean time, he has had to resort to supplemental kerosene
heating.

“Ultimately to have this thing work, because it is such a complex
thing to do, you have to have it automated," Adler explains. "I'm attempting to automate as much as possible."

Two years into production, he is seeing positive results. Now
his carefully controlled experiment is garnering more attention
that he can keep up with, for good reason.

NEXT MONTH>>>

An inside look at how Adler has turned renewable energy into a business success at RainFresh Harvests.

The RainFresh Harvests passive-designed greenhouse is an off-grid, year-round growing facility powered by solar and wind energy.

See the performance data at www.rainfreshharvests.com.

Bergey Windpower 1.0 kW BXC XL mounted on an 80-foot tower and supported by guy wires.

Twelve 175-watt solar panels maufactured by Shell Solar, totaling 2.1 kW.

3,624-watt Outback inverter (VFX-3624 model) converts the DC current received through charge controllers from the wind and solar systems into AC power for electrical loads in the greenhouse.

12 stationary, 2-volt batteries store backup power generated by solar and wind.

A closed-loop, drain-back solar thermal system consists of Three Sun Earth Empire EP-21 units and connected to a heat exchanger that loops to a 119-gallon hot water storage tank.

Two thermostatically controlled radiant floor heating zones provide supplemental heat from stored hot water.

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