Sustainable Communities
A sustainable food supply must be included in any master-planned ecological community if comprehensive lifecycle reductions in carbon emissions, land use, and air and water pollution are the goal. Homes and offices, public spaces and retail stores, all share the same characteristic: they are occupied by people, and people must eat. In fact, preliminary studies show that in certain locations, the ecological footprint of food consumption by the occupants is larger than the ecological footprint of the buildings themselves.
In recognition of food’s importance to a sustainable future, “local and sustainable food” is listed as one of the ten principles that define One Planet Living, a set of goals for sustainable communities developed by the World Wildlife Fund. Zero carbon, sustainable water, and increased human health are three additional core principles shared by BrightFarm Systems and One Planet Living.
BrightFarm Systems has been involved in half a dozen large-scale master planning projects in North America, Europe, and the Gulf. Our designs for these projects often integrate retail and distribution functions together with sustainable production; a farmer’s market within the greenhouse structure is one example. Other benefits of city-scale deployment include green job creation, and the potential for community-engaged farming cooperatives or service programs to dovetail with municipal social services, such as hospitals, schools, shelters, etc.
SCALE: Individual systems can be aggregated to create very large, coordinated installations of several hectares that benefit from shared management, logistics, and technical expertise. BrightFarm Systems has developed proposals to feed up to 50,000 people from a single project.
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