The Wild

Experimentation and Experience

Over the years I have experimented with many different technologies and techniques in the pursuit of sustainable living. Much of my experience is on the Canadian Prairies, but I have also traveled extensively and learned about the conditions in different places.

For me personally, I do not relish the idea of living off grid. I have had just enough experience to know that I would miss many of the things that bring me joy and satisfaction. So while I want to see some big changes in the world, I am past the age where I want to rough it in the bush.

Instead I have put a great deal of time into investigating and imagining different systems that would allow for the continuation of modern lifestyles, while reducing or mitigating impact on the environment.

Growing up my father used to tell stories about his time working on a local hydroelectric dam. The project was massive in scale, and though it was hard times, Dad always spoke enthusiastically about the dam project. His stories certainly did have an impact on me, and I have been fascinated with dams ever since.

This fascination led me to an investigation of dams in Canada. It turns out that before our modern power grid, several large hydro electric projects were completed across Canada, and especially in British Colombia. With the consolidation of the power grid by BC Hydro, many of the smaller dams were decommissioned. Some were integrated into the grid, and a small number continue to operate off of the power grid. It was these that I found most fascinating.

My line of thinking was this: prior to centralized power, many communities built and ran small dams for their own power. Therefore, if things were ever to go badly, perhaps being close to a hydro dam might be an ideal spot for a resilient and self sufficient person or community. There are of course heavy environmental costs to the development of dams, but what about those old ones that were still chugging along.

I began to search Canada for old, but operational dams. I am lucky to be very close to one in my home city, but ideally as a horticulturalist I would like to get away from the prairies. Not only is the growing season short, but if I am to be completely honest, life here is not sustainable without cheap and abundant power. Anyone who suggests otherwise is frankly delusional (even with the hydro dam, we rely heavily on fossil fuels).

After some time searching I came across a small community that I thought would be idea. Isolated, but not completely cut off. It was in an area of higher than average rainfall – meaning that the river should always be viable. It had access to basic services, including a fiber optic backbone running close enough to supply reliable and high speed internet. What can I say, I am a bit of a geek. I can bear the thought of being in a small and remote community, but I cannot imagine being cut off from all the information and excitement of the internet. This place had it all. Good climate, remote but not isolated, fast net, abundant energy.. its was like my dream spot.

The Idea

One of the core ideas I have played with in the event that I were to purchase land in such an area is that of useful production. After studying geography I went back to school to earn a certificate in horticulture. My personal interests lie primarily in food, and I specialized in greenhouse vegetable production.

The reason for this is very practical. I believe that good quality nutritious food is essential for human health. With growing awareness around climate change, and our impact on the environment I decided that being able to grow quality food indoors would be an ideal way to create resilience in out food supply, even in the face of climate or environmental crisis.

The general plan that I came up with involved locating near to a hydro electric dam and then utilizing the low cost and abundantly available energy to power a greenhouse facility. With some research I found another site that fit these constraints, while also having high quality water that could be used in greenhouse irrigation with a minimal amount of treatment.

As it stands three of the main requirements were covered. Available land, good and plentiful water, and reliable energy. The last big factor is a little less straight foreword. Heat.

In Canada greenhouses can use significant amounts of heat, depending on how many months they wish to be productive in a given year. In Northern latitudes the energy requirements increase significantly in winter months. Short days, and cold temperatures often mean an exponential increase in demands for heat and lighting – both key factors in greenhouse production.

Given that my ideal location is near a hydro electric dam, I started to look for alternatives to the industry standards like natural gas. The first innovative solution I came across was electric powered boilers.

In the greenhouse industry traditional boilers are often used. They generally run off of fossil fuels of some type, but never electricity. The reason is financial – with electrically powered boilers being cost prohibitive to operate based on the income generation expected from a greenhouse operation. What about a situation where one could negotiate a better rate with the hydro electric provider. Such agreements are possible, especially with an off grid dam that already provides more energy than it can sell. Still, it sounded uncertain, and likely prone to long term rate changes.

Searching for alternatives, I recalled another operation in the area. I was aware that a data center was operating in the area. I also knew that data centers were notorious for producing excess heat. This led me down a bit of an integration rabbit hole.

I began to wonder if it could be possible to kill a bunch of birds with one stone. What would it look like if you could take the excess waste heat from one industry, and utilize it in another. Could a greenhouse and data center be designed and built as one symbiotic entity? Instead of the excess heat of the data center being pumped out as a pollutant, what if it was captured and stored by the greenhouse. What other systems could be integrated for efficiency?

I can say with confidence that the income generated by a data center would certainly help keep the greenhouse side of the business viable. Anything to do with growing food seems volatile, and prone to fluctuations, and it would make long term success more likely to have complimentary income.

In a world where we continue to demand more and more computing power, this seems like a natural partnership. Its almost poetic. While much of out computing power is used for… dare I say things that are not essential… at least the byproduct of that computing could help produce something of real and immediate value.

If you made it to the end, thanks for reading. Feel free to comment on the idea. Is it viable, or just pie in the sky?

Image: “afternoon pie” by chadmiller is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.