The ICTA-ICP Rooftop Greenhouse Lab: coupling indus trial ecology and life cycle thinking to assess innovative urban agriculture

The Rooftop Greenhouse Lab (RTG-Lab)1The ICTA-ICP RTG-Lab is an integrated RTG (i-RTG) located on the rooftopof the ICTA-ICP building (UAB campus, Bellaterra, Spain). As a novelty, theRTG-Lab will integrate the energy, water and CO2 flows in the metabolism ofthe building, based on an industrial ecology approach. The RTG-Lab aimsto demonstrate the potential of i-RTGs and quantify their environmental,economic and social benefits, by applying life cycle assessmentmethods. Preliminary LCA results determined that the RTG structure isbetween 17 and 75% higher than conventional greenhouses.

Esther Sanyé-Mengual 1,*, Pere Llorach-Massana 1,2, David Sanjuan-Delmàs 1, Ana Nadal 1, Jordi Oliver-Solà 1,3, Alejandro Josa 4,5, Juan Ignacio Montero 6,1, Xavier Gabarrel 1,7,Joan Rieradevall 1,7

(1) Sostenipra Research Group (SGR 01412), Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (ICTA), School of Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain; (2) ELISAVA Barcelona School of Design and Engineering. La Rambla 30-32. 08002 Barcelona (Spain); (3) Inèdit. Inèdit Innovació, S.L. UAB Research Park, Carretera de Cabrils, km 2 (IRTA), 08348, Barcelona, Spain; (4) Department of Geotechnical Engineering and Geosciences, School of Civil Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC-Barcelona Tech), Jordi Girona 1-3, Building D2, Barcelona, Spain; (5) Institute of Sustainability, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC-Barcelona Tech), Pl. Eusebi Güell, 6, Building VX. Barcelona, Spain; (6) Institute of Food and Agricultural Research (IRTA), Carretera de Cabrils, km 2, 08348 Barcelona, Spain; (7) Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Building Q, UAB. *Corresponding author: Esther.Sanye@uab.cat

ICTA-ICP building

between 17 and 75% higher than conventional greenhouses.The Fertilecity project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy andCompetitiveness, aims to analyze , from a technological and sustainabilityapproach, the RTG-Lab as a new agricultural production system forMediterranean urban areas, thereby increasing urban food self-reliance.

RTG-Lab(ICTA 2) (ICTA 1)

Energy flow2 Water flow3 CO2 flow4

The exchange of water flowcan make local productionwater self-sufficient, in contrastto conventional greenhousetechnologies. Rainwatercollected on the rooftop of theICTA-ICP building and theneighbour Eureka building willbe used to satisfy the waterdemand for irrigating thecrops of the RTG-Lab .

The exchange of energy flow canimprove greenhouse climate in theMediterranean area, where extremetemperatures can affect crop yield.Residual heat from the building canbe used to cool or heat the RTG-Labwithout using additional heatingsystems and extra energyconsumption .

As CO2 enrichment technologies in conventional production, theexcess of CO 2 in the residual air from offices and laboratoriescan be injected in the RTG-LAB. A higher CO2 concentration isrelated to an increase in the plant activity and, thus, in crop yield.CO2 is injected to supply crop demand and to enhancephotosyntesis and crop yield.

Entities: Collaborators: Thanks to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for funding the

Fertilecity project CTM2013-47067-C2-1-R

Integrated RTGs will allow increasing the cropyield without enlarging energy consumption

Integrated RTGs will allow increasing the cropwater self-sufficiency

Integrated RTGs will allow increasing the cropyield, by using residual CO 2 enrichment

An open chamber will be used to account for the carbon fixationof the crops in order to model de CO2 balance at the greenhousescale.

Preliminary results showed that the RTG is able to reduce temperature fluctuation when compared to outside values, particularly at night.

Preliminary results indicate that crop water demand can be100% satisfied and drainage is about 25-30% for tomatoes.