Pamela Groberman heads up an award-winning media and public relations firm pamelagroberman.com that is passionate about sustainability.

            

Farming the top 40
by PAMELA GROBERMAN

From greenhouse to highrise may seem a bit of a leap, but the concept of farming the top 40 instead of the back 40 is getting serious consideration right here in the Lower Mainland.

According to a report in the Surrey-North Delta Leader, a site in Whalley near Simon Fraser University Surrey campus has been selected for a $25 million “vertical farm” which, if built, would be the first in the world.

Vertical farming is the dream of Dickson Despommier, Professor of Public Health at Columbia University. He already has got the ear of publications such as Scientific American, which featured the concept in its October edition. Adding fuel to speculation that Whalley might be in Despommier’s sights, the visionary professor recently visited Surrey, where he met with a small gathering of architects, planners, engineers, academics and city staff. Among those present was Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts and chairman of the city’s agricultural advisory committee Marvin Hunt.

Of traditional commercial hothouses, a familiar sight throughout the Fraser Valley, Despommier said: “The proof of the concept is we’re already doing it, but we’re only doing it on a single level.”

According to Despommier, in Scientific American, a 30-storey farm that covered a city block could potentially feed 500,000 people per year. Humans thrive in air conditioned, humidity controlled skyscrapers, he argues, so why not plants?

Maybe one day there will be highrise farm in every urban community.

And while we’re on the subject of green houses, if you want to see the future, take a look at Upper Delbrook in North Vancouver, where Canada’s greenest residential building is nearing completion on the site of a former gas station.

Built of glass, concrete and cedar in the style of classic West Coast post-and-beam homes, The Brook is a 24-home development by Vancouver-based Streamline Properties Inc., a specialist in sustainable building design. What makes it special is that it uses geothermal and solar thermal-collector technology to heat and cool the building and to provide domestic hot water. It also has heat-recovery ventilation units that circulate fresh air throughout each home. The goal, from groundbreaking to completion, has been to create a sustainable building with respect for the environment.

According to Western Canada’s construction newspaper Journal of Commerce, building contractors who are not up to speed on sustainable building methods and challenges are “likely headed for trouble.”

The journal quotes North Vancouver’s Dan Roberts, who recently launched his own firm, Kane Consulting Ltd. in North Vancouver, and is a member of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council. Roberts says it is “critical” for all building contractors to have a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) coordinator on the job. The Brook is LEED registered, with the expectation that it will receive the highest rating.

What I find exciting is that one day, all new homes will be built this way.