Pasona O2: Urban Underground Farming
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 07.31.07
Two years ago we first covered Tokyo's underground farm; It is called Pasona O2 and was set up as a means of providing agricultural training to young people who are having trouble finding employment and middle-aged people in search of a second career. Of course, since we first posted the interest in local food has increased dramatically and there has been much more interest in urban farming. We also came upon some new information:
The Pasona Group has a traditional farm in Ogata, but they want the "freeters" (Japanese slackers who hop between part time jobs) to get a taste, so to speak. It also is open to middle-aged people in search of a second career. There are a thousand square metres (10,000 SF) growing 100 different kinds of produce.
"In the absence of sunlight, the plants are sustained by artificial light from light-emitting diodes, metal halide lamps, and high-pressure sodium vapor lamps. The temperature of the room is controlled by computer, and the vegetables are grown by a pesticide-free method in which fertilizer and carbon dioxide are delivered by spraying. Hydroponics, in which plants are grown in water and hardly any soil is used, is one of the methods of cultivation used in the facility."
Room 1 Flower field. White LEDs are used. Plant cultivation by RGB LED.
Metal halids spotlights are used.
Room 3 Shelf rice field. Metal halids lamps and high-pressure sodium lamps are used.
It explains that it is possible to do by three crops a year.
Room 4 Fruit/vegetable field. Cultivation of tomato by hydroponics.
3 wavelength, 5000 deg. K, High-frequency fluorescent lamp.
Room 6 Seedling room. Lettuces are being grown with fluorescent lamps.
2xFour steps cultivation bed.
It is all very energy-intensive; we would prefer to see more use of Parans type piped natural light or heliostats but this could be the start of a new underground movement.
from ::Learning and Environment
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Is there any sort of information on the net energy used to farm this way (e.g. energy used for lighting vs. trade off in cost of transporting the produce into the city from other locations, etc.)? It sounds fascinating; however, I'm wondering how efficient this is?
Anything like this in the "low-light" countries? Are Icelanders exploring this for fresh veg in the wintertime?
We have been developing a version of this concept at my organization.
From an economic standpoint, it is just barely feasible in a very northern community with a long winter, at current oil prices. In any country further south than Canada it is not feasible economically.
From an environmental standpoint, it can replace the fossil fuels used to ship produce to northern communities with electricity. However, net-energy-and-GHG-wise, this is not much better unless you are using clean electricity (i.e. wind, hydro, or solar). It is also water intensive, so if you live in a drought region with fossil fuel electricity, it is worse for your local environment.
wow! food grown in a lab - that's quite scary in Soylent Green kinda way. are those unemployed people actually working there?!?!
Jason, Hydroponics doesn't have to be used in artificial light conditions. In fact, most of the time it is done in greenhouses and on rooftops. And yes, Icelanders are indeed using hydroponics as are others to grow out of season vegetables, herbs and fruits.
I wish Treehugger did more stories more on Hydroponics. It's such a great idea for urban farming.
For first timers, here is a great resource on Hydroponics Basics
as clever as hydroponics is, i'm hoping that something other than pvc will com into use for troughs.
Regarding the use of PVC and other synthetic materials, I think there is a real chance for bamboo and coconut husks/fibre to be used in an organic system.
Your characterization of freeters as "Japanese slackers who hop between part time jobs" is a bit of a mischaracterization. While circumstances may vary, many freeters are unable to find anything other than day laborer jobs because of the structure of Japan's labor market. Your perspective reflects the common misrepresentation of freeters by the Japanese media and belittles socio-economic circumstances that prevent many young Japanese from participating in the conventional labor market.