Utilizing Green Technologies to Construct Robust Circular Economies
Advisor: Farhan Ahmad
Internship Location: CropMind
Onsite Mentor: Damilare Odumosu
Circular economies, which utilize waste products as ingredients for new products, can result in significant waste reduction and fuel savings. For Designing sustainable buildings can be a first step towards a circular future. I aim to create a sustainable greenhouse that supports the creation of a circular economy, focusing on water sustainability, using alternative materials, and innovative crop management. Using an accessible software program called SketchUp, I am designing a realistic greenhouse model incorporating the three components and design insights obtained from interviewing green architects. Software allows for efficient design compared to physical builds, which can be time-consuming and costly. Afterwards, I can analyze the structure in terms of cost and environmental benefits using construction cost estimators and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. I also plan to compile educational materials, helping consumers make informed decisions on sustainable materials. I expect that due to limited market knowledge of alternative materials, the greenhouse design will be more costly in the short term but more environmentally sound than greenhouses of similar size and perhaps save money in the long term.
Project Blog
Post 1: Carson's Introductory Blog
Hello everyone, I’m Carson, and welcome to my Senior Project blog!
My Senior Project focuses on digitally designing a sustainable greenhouse, with a focus on sustainable water usage, utilizing alternative materials, and implementing innovative crop management strategies within the greenhouse. Furthermore, I am interested in analyzing this greenhouse design in terms of cost and environmental benefits, investigating the relationship and tradeoffs between affordability and sustainability. More broadly, I am also looking forward to gaining insight into how technological development, primarily done by the private sector, can translate to serving national concerns such as creating a circular economy. This research project also includes developing a consumer guide on sustainable materials, and understanding how to effectively inform the public about sustainability.
This research project has been informed by both my academic and work experiences. During summer break following sophomore year, I conducted research on carbon sequestration technology and its applications in urban and rural settings while attending Virginia Governor’s School for Agriculture, a state-funded summer program exploring various fields within the agricultural sciences. Through this experience, I witnessed the power of sustainable innovation, such as cover crops or green roofs, in transforming the planet for the better. Governor’s School has shown me the importance of achieving a sustainable future.
Additionally, working as a crew member for a youth conservation organization called the Student Conservation Association also contributed to my interest. Completing conservation work showed me the positive impact humans could bring to nature, motivating me to further explore what humans can do to clean our modern world, leading me to develop an interest in building sustainable structures.
I am excited to begin creating my own, authentic green building via the Senior Project. Look out for the next post!
Post 2: Weekly Project Blog #1: Exploring SketchUp
Hello everyone, and welcome back! In this first official project blog, I would like to share my experience beginning to learn the modeling mechanics within SketchUp, a digital design software program I am using to design my sustainable greenhouse. I haven’t worked with computers or computer-assisted design to a great extent prior. However, SketchUp’s online design workspace has been relatively straightforward to navigate.
To get familiar with SketchUp’s workspace, I focused on constructing relatively simple structures, such as building a simple brick house, which is depicted in my SketchUp design shown below. In SketchUp, users can construct structures of varying orientations, shapes, and sizes on an established 3D coordinate system, allowing for clear visualization. The versatile nature of the program makes SketchUp a practical tool for convenient, realistic design.
Furthermore, in addition to SketchUp’s simplistic design setup, SketchUp’s access to a variety of building materials has been exciting to explore. The sidebar on SketchUp’s workspace displays a vast array of materials of different categories, such as patterns, roofing, synthetic surfaces, and tiles. Plus, images can be uploaded to create custom materials that can be applied onto surfaces, enabling efficient design. Also, SketchUp offers a public, online repository called the 3D Warehouse, which contains thousands of searchable 3D models, including textures, materials, and structures that can be directly imported when creating my own SketchUp models. With SketchUp’s plentiful access to building resources, I look forward to being able to synthesize a practical, detailed greenhouse design.
There is much more to unravel, but for now, that is how far I have experimented with SketchUp. With further practice during the remainder of this week, I hope to solidify a working knowledge of this program. Look out for the next post!
Post 3: Weekly Project Blog #2: Further Work in SketchUp
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another blog post! This week, I will continue to share my experience working in SketchUp. This week was a mix of struggle and breakthrough, as I made progress on 3D modeling, transitioning from an idea of a sustainable greenhouse to a visualization of the facility.
A significant challenge I had encountered was simply beginning to craft the greenhouse. The task seemed daunting, starting completely from scratch to create a realistic greenhouse. However, I remembered that SketchUp offered free access to a variety of designs and templates in the 3D Warehouse that are directly applicable to my designspace. I discovered a large collection of pre-made greenhouse models, ranging from glass-based to vinyl-based greenhouses. Finding these models greatly reduced the construction time needed for the greenhouse skeleton, enabling me to focus on implementing sustainable practices.
I have also started to design sustainable water usage systems within the greenhouse. I focused on learning how to design pipe networks in SketchUp, since pipes are the basic, essential infrastructural element for water circulation. The image attached below depicts a pipe structure I have designed. Additionally, I began investigating sustainable materials to incorporate into the greenhouse surfaces. SketchUp offers several Extension programs that are compatible with the designspace. Architextures, an Extension that functions as a digital library of materials for SketchUp design, was of great use here. A particular material of interest I found was hempcrete, a sustainable material synthesized from the inner core of hemp plants and a lime-based binder. Although hempcrete is traditionally used for larger structures, such as office buildings, I saw its potential in greenhouses, due to its excellent thermal insulation and moisture regulation abilities, which can provide favorable conditions for crops within greenhouses. That’s it for this post. Look out for the next one!
Post 4: Weekly Project Blog #3: Establishing a Standard
Hello everyone, and welcome back! In the past two blogs, I focused on my experience working in SketchUp. You may have been wondering how I am planning to analyze the greenhouse. Therefore, for this week, I would like to discuss the environmental standards that I am considering using to assess the sustainability of my greenhouse.
Initially, when developing a method to assess my greenhouse, I thought of conducting virtual interviews with green architects to get insight into the common criterion used to determine the sustainability of a structure. However, I realized that interviewing architects may be quite time-consuming. Therefore, I recently modified my plan to examine widely recognized, official green architecture rating systems and guidelines. Currently, the main criteria of interest is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, a globally recognized framework to determine how environmentally sound a structure is. LEED offers three major rating systems for buildings, specifically Building Design and Construction (BD + C), Interior Design and Construction (ID + C), and Building Operations and Maintenance (O + M). I am planning to focus on the BD + C and ID + C ratings, looking into the criteria categories Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Water Efficiency, which include standards that can assess alternative material usage and sustainable water use, major objectives for the greenhouse.
Additionally, I have come across the WELL Building Standard, an international building criterion developed by the WELL Institute. The WELL Standard places emphasis on the comfort of the building inhabitants, as shown by its building principles such as Movement, Thermal Comfort, Mind, and Community. I am considering incorporating a few human-related WELL principles, such as Thermal Comfort, into evaluating the greenhouse, since crop cultivation requires human input and greenhouses grow crops for human usage. Look out for the next post!
Post 5: Weekly Project Blog #4: Introducing CropMind
Hello everyone, and welcome back to this week’s blog post! For this week, I would like to introduce CropMind, which is where I’ll be remotely interning while progressing with my greenhouse research project. I will also discuss how the work I’ll be completing at CropMind ties back to my project.
CropMind is a burgeoning AI startup based in Canada that focuses on assisting farmers and agriculturalists on optimizing crop production and cultivating in an economic and sustainable manner. Utilizing digital, data-based AI and computer tools, CropMind seeks to transform farm management around the world, leading the transition from manual agricultural work to digitized cultivation. One of their major AI crop analysis tools is called CropSight, which is a cloud based Software as a Service (SaaS) product that can quickly scan orchards and vineyards and provide farmers real-time crop data, such as a crop yield estimate and areas where there are insufficient nutrients or fertility. The ability of CropSight to provide specific analytics allows for farmers to pinpoint the regions in their farmland that need attention. This is greatly beneficial to farmers, since they can minimize unnecessary resource use, which can save input costs, such as labor or fertilizer costs.
At CropMind, I will be focusing on analyzing crop photos from different farmer clients using CropSight. I will learn how to assess crop health, including analyzing the presence of diseases in crops. Based on this analysis, I will also help the company make practical recommendations for farmer clients on next steps. CropMind is an opportunity for me to explore newer, more recent environmental innovation, expanding upon my study of sustainability in my Senior Project. I am excited to deepen my understanding of developing a sustainable future through CropMind. Look out for the next post!
Post 6: Weekly Project Blog #5: Implementing Sustainable Materials
Hello everyone! In this week’s post, I would like to shift back to discussing my experience designing a sustainable greenhouse. Specifically, I will be discussing the progress I made on integrating sustainable materials into my greenhouse.
The process began with reviewing literature to identify common alternative materials used within the interior and exterior of buildings. For a greenhouse, the most important exterior surface to consider is the outer layer of transparent material, since this medium allows for sunlight to reach the crops indoors. For the interior, selecting materials that maintain favorable environmental conditions, such as humidity, is critical, since a consistent environment is necessary for crop growth. One of the papers I read this week was titled “Environmental Sustainability of Greenhouse Covering Materials”, which was a review article analyzing various greenhouse cover materials. One material highlighted in this article was bioplastics, which are plastics produced from renewable biomass. Naturally synthesized and flexible, bioplastics seemed to be a suitable covering material.
I also revisited hempcrete, a sustainable material made from hemp plants, through re-examining a review article titled “State of the Art Review of Hempcrete as a Sustainable Substitute for Traditional Construction Materials for Home Building”. The article noted hempcrete for its insulation and moisture regulation ability as well as for its low-energy production process. Although hempcrete is mostly utilized in large-scale buildings such as office buildings, it appeared promising for the greenhouse interior, potentially providing a consistent growing environment for crops. In SketchUp, I synthesized these findings as shown in the images below. Onto a greenhouse template, I applied a bioplastic cover on the exterior while placing hempcrete slabs around the lowest interior level, ensuring that adequate sunlight still penetrates into the facility. Look out for the next post!
Post 7: Weekly Project Blog #6: Selecting Energy Sources
Hello everyone! Welcome back to this week’s blog post! For this week, I would like to continue sharing my experience developing a digital greenhouse, specifically selecting and implementing energy sources for heating.
Since I am designing a sustainable greenhouse, it is important to ensure that the greenhouse is powered by environmentally sound energy sources. In order to find these environmentally friendly options, I focused on identifying renewable energy sources that are compatible with greenhouses. While searching, I came across a paper titled, “Energy-saving design and control strategy towards modern sustainable greenhouse: a review," which discussed methods that can help greenhouses use energy sustainably. The paper highlighted solar and geothermal energy as viable renewable energy sources for greenhouses, harnessed through solar panels and geothermal pumps. The paper also discussed that utilizing solar and geothermal energy could significantly reduce energy costs and the environmental impact associated with greenhouses, while providing consistent heating compared to fossil fuels. Economically and environmentally, solar and geothermal power seemed ideal.
Within SketchUp, I implemented a solar energy system first, placing solar panels outside of the greenhouse. Based on the paper I examined, solar panels are commonly arranged directly on the greenhouse, to increase the amount of sunlight received. However, placing opaque solar panels on the exterior could limit sunlight penetration. Therefore, I positioned the solar panels separately from the greenhouse. I also connected geothermal pumps to the greenhouse, which will contain moving water that provides heating and cooling from underground. Inside, I connected these pumps to water-to-air heat exchangers, converting the water’s heat to heated air. There is still further work needed on designing an effective circulation system for the geothermal pumps, but my greenhouse is now equipped with renewable energy. There are some pictures of the energy systems attached below. Look out for the next post!
Post 8: Weekly Project Blog #7: Methodology Updates
Hello everyone! Welcome back to this week’s blog post! During this week, I have made some substantial changes to my project, especially in terms of assessing the sustainability of my greenhouse design. Therefore, I would like to share my new approach for sustainability analysis in this post.
When I first began this project, I considered using the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building standards as a benchmark for comparison, comparing my digital greenhouse design directly with the official criterion outlined in the official rating guidelines. This seemed like a solid plan, since LEED is globally recognized as a prime baseline for constructing environmentally sound structures. However, upon closely reading the standards, I realized that there are quite a lot of specifications described, such as specific threshold indoor temperatures or water flow rates. Although LEED offers a comprehensive definition of sustainability, practically, it is quite difficult to account for all of the detailed constraints that the standard describes. Therefore, I have altered my standard of comparison, comparing my digital greenhouse design to another existing, conventional greenhouse from economic and environmental angles. I anticipate that this change will also help my investigation be more applicable to our current world through integrating a real-life example.
I have also identified several quantitative metrics that can gauge material sustainability and energy efficiency. Sustainability can be rather abstract at face value. Considering quantitative metrics can provide objectivity for assessing sustainability, since they provide concrete data to examine. Reviewing several academic articles, such as “Analyzing sustainability behavior of building materials using system dynamics and decision-making techniques”, I have selected several sustainability metrics for materials and energy, such as embodied carbon, energy use intensity, and carbon emissions. I am excited to take my project in a new direction. Look out for the next post!
Post 9: Weekly Project Blog #8: Comparative Environmental Analysis
Hello everyone! Welcome back to this week’s blog post! During this week, I have focused on examining and computing various quantitative metrics that can gauge how sustainable the building materials and energy sources that are used for my greenhouse design are, in comparison to an existing greenhouse.
The greenhouse I have selected to compare my greenhouse blueprint with is the Presidents Park Greenhouse, located inside George Mason University’s campus. I decided to analyze the Presidents Park Greenhouse because the facility has been recently renovated, equipping itself with a solar panel array to power and heat the building. This recent effort towards sustainability makes this greenhouse suitable for comparison in this project since it can serve as a realistic representation of the current status of environmental innovations associated with modern greenhouses.
While researching, the biggest theme that I have noticed is the fact that simpler, minimalistic material and energy usage helps structures become more environmentally friendly. When I was comparing the Global Warming Potential (GWP), a measure of climate impact of substances relative to carbon dioxide, of the materials used in my design and the Presidents Park Greenhouse, I noticed that I had used less materials compared to the university greenhouse. Therefore, since there were less factors contributing to the total GWP in my design, overall, the GWP metric for my greenhouse was lower. When considering the carbon emissions that would be produced from energy devices, my greenhouse ended up having a greater carbon emission metric because I had used both solar panels and geothermal pumps, while the Presidents Park Greenhouse had only used solar panels for power.
More comparisons are coming soon. Look out for the next post!
Post 10: Weekly Project Blog #9: Online Cost Search
Hello everyone! Welcome back to this week’s blog post! This week, I have focused on researching how costly the building materials and energy sources utilized in my greenhouse model and the Presidents Park Greenhouse at George Mason University, respectively, are. Although at first glance it may seem relatively simple to determine the cost of materials and energy usage, this process was more involved and extensive than I had initially expected. In this blog, I would like to share the key takeaways from my experience.
When I began searching for costs, I primarily focused on reading academic articles that discussed characteristics of building materials and energy sources, in an effort to find credible economic information. However, as I progressed deeper into my search, I realized there was a relatively limited supply of academic sources discussing the specific prices and costs of construction materials and renewable power. Therefore, I had to expand my search, looking into a greater variety of sources, such as official economic reports and construction company websites.
Through broadening my Internet search, I was able to gather more specific information about the costs that were spent in the greenhouses, but I was met with a greater challenge in my research, since it wasn’t as immediately or clearly apparent that the information I was examining was credible, especially for company websites, requiring me to look more closely into each source. It became crucial to understand the specific context, such as the credentials of business owners, to accurately assess the utility of the sources. Currently, I am analyzing the cost data I have collected, and I am excited to see how the two facilities compare economically, and ultimately see how economics and sustainability of buildings are correlated. Look out for the next post!
Post 11: Weekly Project Blog #10: Comparative Cost Analysis
Hello everyone! Welcome back to this week’s blog post! For this week, I focused on finalizing my cost data collection and analyzing the costs of building materials and energy sources utilized in my SketchUp greenhouse design and the Presidents Park Greenhouse in George Mason University. There were some interesting results I have observed from my cost analysis I would like to share.
As I was finishing my cost data collection, accurately computing the unit area cost of building materials was the most challenging task. I initially thought that the cost per unit area would be a common metric for materials, since materials are frequently used to build surfaces, which have an area. However, most material costs online were given in terms of the cost per unit mass. Therefore, I had to search for additional information for each material, specifically the density and thickness, to convert the cost per unit mass of each material to an equivalent cost per unit area. There always seems to be more than meets the eye.
From comparing the cost data of the two facilities, it was intriguing to see the different implications the material and energy cost datasets each suggested. In terms of materials, the SketchUp greenhouse model had incurred less costs compared to the Presidents Park Greenhouse. However, comparing the energy usage costs, the SketchUp design was shown to be more expensive. Energy costs suggested the existence of a tradeoff between sustainability and construction costs, which I had expected, while material costs didn’t indicate such correlation. To accurately evaluate buildings, it is important to look from multiple perspectives. Look out for the next post!