LED lighting system helps waste mines turn into vertical farms

The University of Nottingham proposes the concept of “vertical farm” for the future application of waste mines. It believes that mines are ready-made greenhouses and can be turned into fully functional farms with the addition of lighting and irrigation systems.

They believe that deep farms are not affected by the weather, and that the temperature of the ground does not change much and does not require expensive temperature control equipment. Safa of the University of Nottingham. Saffa Riffat said: “Tunnels and shafts do not need heating equipment, and even if they do, they consume less electricity, so they are very attractive for food production. We designed a central shaft for mounting the robotic arm. These robotic arms are used to take care of the crops and harvest. The entire system costs only about $38,000 to build, and the subsequent operating costs are lower. The LED lighting system we envision does not consume electricity."

Scholars at the University of Nottingham invented the vertical farm, which only needed an intermediate shaft and installed a robotic arm to take care of the fruits and vegetables inside.

Vertical farms are suitable for vegetables and fruits with short growth cycles, such as spinach, kale, basil, mint, strawberries, mushrooms, carrots, eggplants, etc. Their trials show that a small well-type small farm can produce 80 tons of crops per year. Moreover, production is not affected by the season, and can reach 10 crop cycles per year, while British outdoor farms only have 4 to 6 times. Researchers believe that the UK, with more than 150,000 abandoned coal mines, is a perfect starting point.