News

2/1/2008

Treading lightly (Part 2)

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

by EILEEN TUTTLE
photos provided by BARRY ADLER

The sun and the wind are free. So is advice, sometimes. Equipment, though, is not.

When URE member Barry Adler set out to create a self-sustaining farm, complete with its own energy production, he knew it would require a strong plan to justify his expense -- especially to justify support from financing and grants.

At RainFresh Harvests, Adler tied his farm proposal together in a business plan that makes the investment worthwhile. Not only is the farm unique in its use of green energy and ecologically sound practices, RainFresh is designed to cater to the boutique local produce market, another ecologically-minded approach. He has successfully marketed his herbs and leafy vegetables to retailer Whole Foods and the Bon Appetit restaurant among others.

Getting started

With his personal experience in horticulture in his back pocket and the kernel of a business plan, Adler sought energy experts. This is an important first step for anyone interested in employing green power, which is still a relatively new field.

As Adler advised in Ohio's Country Journal, "I think you have to get at least three 'expert' opinions on things like this and then pick the expert you believe the most."

The expert advice was to start with the electrical load. Adler's greenhouse is engineered first and foremost to use very little energy. In a home or business, the insulation of the building envelope is the most critical component. Adler used soybean foam insulation panels (which is also ecological) with heavy-duty wrap to thermally control walls, floor and roof. The concrete slab in the floor stores passive solar energy. An active solar heating system pumps warm water through tubing in the floor.

He minimized the cooling load with solar chimney cupolas, thermal-mechanical ventilation and retractable shades.

Harnessing the weather

Only after the building envelope was engineered could Adler and his experts identify his energy needs and model generation to serve it.

Neither sun or wind on its own is constant enough in Ohio to provide energy that supports living things. While wind is missing in the early morning and in the heat of summer, sun is also notably missing during the winter and at night! The reality is, weather is a complicated source of energy.

Having storage batteries helps, but even scaling back to the minimum, those he's using will only allow him to operate three to four days starting from a fully charged state.

And everything is connected by a sophisticated control system, designed specifically for his building's conditions. The complexity of it all makes it obvious, nothing about this system was created on a whim.

The long haul

There are always small issues to resolve, no different than any other farm, just higher technology. "The renewable technologies are relatively new and like any technologies they don't work all the time," says Adler.

When the ventilation and insulation did not balance, he had to install thermally controlled vents. When lightning struck the wind turbine, it was out of commission until the repair team could visit.

Adler continues to be optimistic. He says, "Technology has to be used in order to be improved. If some of us aren't willing to take the first steps to try things out, then they'll never be improved."

Now, more than two years into the project, Adler is starting to feel it coming together. For him, it is a short-term investment into the long-term energy and ecology issue. "I think the key is to be interdependent. We need to look forward to where we'll be in another 75 years."

(Visit www.greenenergyohio.org for more information on green energy.)

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