Building-integrated rooftop greenhouses: An energy and environmental assessment in the mediterranean context

Nadal, Ana; Llorach-Massana, Pere; Cuerva, Eva; López-Capél, Elisa; Montero, J.I.; Josa, Alejandro; Rieradevall, Joan; Royapoor, Mohammad

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.11.051

Cited by 114 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Most of the cases focused on increasing overall resource efficiency and involved introducing a local food product with a minimized supply-chain and improving the economic cost-benefit balance of the activity by enhancing the implementation and the efficiency of crop management techniques. In terms of crop efficiency, the integrated rooftop greenhouse (T6) enlarges the crop period for summer products (e.g., tomatoes), as the location of the greenhouse on the top of a building and the use of the building's residual heat for the greenhouse ensures viable year-round temperatures for producing the crop without additional energy input [35]. Furthermore, the integrated rooftop greenhouse (T6) employs rainwater harvested on the roof of the building to satisfy the water demand of the crop [29].…”

Section: Delving Into the Most Common Novelties In Uamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beyond this opportunity, aquaponics offers the chance to close the water metabolism and recirculate the water outflow from hydroponics back to aquaculture. However, this circular system fully benefits the water cycle rather than the nutrient one, as water from hydroponics needs to be treated to eliminate nutrient residues before being used in the aquaculture production [35]. Indoor farming using LED lighting (T2) also enhances nutrient use efficiency by optimizing the plant metabolism through specific red-blue light ratios [51,52].…”

Section: Delving Into the Most Common Novelties In Uamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The goal of this paper is to expand the previous research and characterize and evaluate the innovations in different types and levels of UA across Western Europe while taking into account the contribution of these innovations in the three dimensions of sustainability [35]. We aim to reflect the diversity of UA by focusing on projects that are producing food for either commercial or community purposes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Can Innovation in Urban Agriculture Contribute to Sustainability? A Characterization and Evaluation Study from Five Western European Cities

et al. 2019

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Compared to rural agriculture, urban agriculture (UA) has some distinct features (e.g., the limited land access, alternative growing media, unique legal environments or the non-production-related missions) that encourage the development of new practices, i.e., "novelties" or "innovations". This paper aims to (1) identify the "triggers" for novelty production in UA;(2) characterize the different kinds of novelties applied in UA; (3) evaluate the "innovativeness" of those social, environmental and economic novelties; and, (4) estimate the links between novelties and sustainability. The study was based on the evaluation of 11 case studies in four Western European countries (Italy, Germany, France and Spain). The results show that the trigger and origin of new activities can often be traced back to specific problems that initiators were intended to address or solve. In total, we found 147 novelties produced in the 11 case studies. More novelties are produced in the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability than in the economic. In most cases, external stakeholders played an important role in supporting the projects. The analysis further suggests that innovativeness enhances the overall sustainability in urban agriculture projects.Goldstein et al. [7] defined UA as follows: "Most broadly, urban agriculture refers to growing and raising food crops and animals in an urban setting for the purpose of feeding local populations." Guided by this definition, we focus our research on this type of agricultural or horticultural production that is taking place either within the city or in very close proximity to it. UA as an InnovationDespite the early origin of UA in cities, it has often been considered an "innovative" way to address current urban problems. Therefore, this raises the following question: If UA is not new, why is it so often considered innovative? Pfeiffer et al. [8] indicated that many aspects of urban agricultural production are indeed very similar to those of small-scale rural farms and not entirely new, while other factors set UA apart from traditional agricultural operations. In their study, Pfeiffer et al. also described the distinct features of UA, such as the limited and nontraditional land access, the usage of urban soils and alternative growing media, the unique legal and political environments, the non-production-related missions, and the involvement of nontraditional farmers, which force the development of new practices. Prain and De Zeeuw [9] confirmed and complemented those findings by elaborating that the key factors for innovation in UA are those factors, such as multiple livelihood strategies, lower community cohesion, fewer possibilities for integrated agriculture, and quick market access, which differentiate urban from rural agriculture. They identified a direct correlation between urban settings and innovation processes in UA. Those specific conditions and characteristics drive urban operations to develop unique new practices adapted to the urban context.

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Section: Delving Into the Most Common Novelties In Uamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Delving Into the Most Common Novelties In Uamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Can Innovation in Urban Agriculture Contribute to Sustainability? A Characterization and Evaluation Study from Five Western European Cities

et al. 2019

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“…According to these results, there is no barrier effect on the air quality when installing a greenhouse for rooftop agriculture. It should be highlighted that it is a greenhouse with higher ventilation rates than a conventional greenhouse Nadal et al, 2017) Specifically, during the studied period, the greenhouse was semi-opened for 23% of the time and completely opened for 74% of the time. This implies more air renewal, which can result in no differences in indoor and external air quality.…”

Section: Air Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These existing RTGs are constructed on roofs that are isolated from buildings. However, this kind of RTG can also be integrated (i-RTG) into a building, using the residual hot and cold air supplied by the building to provide an optimum range of temperatures for the crops and even using the greywater or rainwater collected in or on the building for irrigating the crops (Cer on- Palma et al, 2011;Nadal et al, 2017;Pons et al, 2015;Sanjuan-Delm as et al, 2018).…”

Section: Urban Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

A study on air quality and heavy metals content of urban food produced in a Mediterranean city (Barcelona)

Ercilla-Montserrat

Muñoz

Montero

et al. 2018

Journal of Cleaner Production

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a b s t r a c tUrban agriculture is growing in cities and is rising to the roofs of buildings. The potential food contamination is a key issue to be resolved to guarantee the health of consumers, and it affects both urban agriculture promoters and consumers. Crop contamination from the soil can be overcome by adopting a soilless cultivation system that, with good management practices, can also avoid contamination from the fertirrigation system and pest treatments. It has recently increased the number of soilless cultivation systems in cities due to the good features it offers. This study focuses on the potential contamination of heavy metals in hydroponic lettuce crops due to atmospheric pollution in high-traffic areas. The contents of heavy metal in the air and the lettuce leaves were measured at 4 sites: a periurbanintegrated rooftop greenhouse, a periurban rooftop, an urban courtyard and an urban rooftop. Highvolume sensors were used to assess air contamination. Lettuce leaves were analysed to evaluate the heavy metal concentrations.The results show that the heavy metal concentration in lettuce leaves is also below the EU-legislated limit in all studied cases. Specifically, the concentrations below the detectable analytic values were <0.02 mgNi/kg, <0.008 mgHg/kg, 0.005mgAs/kg and <0.005 mgCd/kg. The Pb concentration ranged from 0.0060 mg/kg to 0.0244 mg/kg. Although the chosen sampling locations were close to high-density roads and they are more vulnerable to a high concentration of metals, in the 4 sampling points heavy metal concentration in the air were less than 50% of the limits established in the legislation as the lower assessment threshold. This study concludes that the heavy metal content in the air of Barcelona is low and is not a source of contamination for urban crops including high traffic areas.

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Comparison of organic substrates in urban rooftop agriculture, towards improving crop production resilience to temporary drought in Mediterranean cities

et al. 2021

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BACKGROUND: Urban agriculture contributes to meet food production demand in cities. In a context of low water availability, it is important to consider alternatives that are able to maintain production. This study aimed to assess the use of substrates made from local materials and high water retention capacity as an alternative for urban agriculture in periods with water stress. Different substrates were used for 3 consecutive crop cycles of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) during the spring and summer periods of 2018 to observe these substrates performance during warmer periods of the year in an integrated rooftop greenhouse near Barcelona. The substrates used were coir commercial organic substrate, vegetable Compost from urban organic waste, Perlite (as control) commercial standard substrate, and a Mixture of the urban Compost and Perlite (1:1).Substrate crop performance was assessed under conventionally irrigation (0-5 cbar) and water restricted conditions (irrigation stop until the water tension inside the perlite bags reached -20 cbar). RESULTS: The results demonstrate that the Compost and Mix yields were similar to those obtained from Perlite (11.5% y 3.7% of more production in a restricted water condition average values). Compared to the Perlite, the organic substrates increased the crops resilience to water restriction, through biomass accumulation comparison, it took longer for Coir to lose water (1 and 2 test); however, when dryness began, it occurred very quickly. CONCLUSION: The vegetable Compost and the substrate Mixture presented tolerance to water restriction when water restriction reached -20 cbar.

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Building-integrated rooftop greenhouses: An energy and environmental assessment in the mediterranean context

Cited by 114 publications

References 38 publications

How Can Innovation in Urban Agriculture Contribute to Sustainability? A Characterization and Evaluation Study from Five Western European Cities

How Can Innovation in Urban Agriculture Contribute to Sustainability? A Characterization and Evaluation Study from Five Western European Cities

A study on air quality and heavy metals content of urban food produced in a Mediterranean city (Barcelona)

Comparison of organic substrates in urban rooftop agriculture, towards improving crop production resilience to temporary drought in Mediterranean cities

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