Reducing the Impact of Produce with Efficient Regional Controlled Environment Agriculture Facilities

Agriculture produces over 10% of the carbon in the US and its contribution continues grow. 30-40 percent of all food is wasted and a larger percentage of produce is wasted. Over 70% of the carbon impact of produce is from long distant transportation. Regionally located controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) facilities (primarily greenhouses and vertical farms) have the potential to address both of these issues, but can have much larger on-site energy usage. Applying state of the art HVAC, lighting, controls and energy storage systems has the potential to allow regional CEA facilities to operate with low/no Scope 1 & 2 emissions and allow for short distant transportation which has a high potential for decarbonization. This presentation is based on a new build CEA facility (currently in construction) that is targeting operating as a zero carbon facility by 2025. The presentation will include details of design and engineering of the large scale heat pumps for heating & cooling, 100 % LED lighting, rainwater collection and other novel features that position this location as a carbon free solution for the produce industry.