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The quest for an efficient northern greenhouse

Traditional greenhouses are built horizontally with transparent envelopes to take advantage of the sun. Inventor Glenn Scott wants to revolutionize cold climate greenhouse designs with Agridome, a dome-shaped structure that doesn't rely on sunlight.

Scott holds a Master of Science degree in polar climatology at the University of Manitoba and has worked in Arctic environments as far away as Russia and Alaska.

"I spent a lot of time at remote research stations and I was exposed to the hardship of remote communities regarding how you supply people and keep them fed," he says. "One reason food is so expensive in the north is because of the cost of transportation. But in the north, heating costs for a greenhouse can rise to 75 per cent of your budget."

Scott piloted the Agridome in partnership with the Yukon Research Centre, which funded the project along with the Yukon government and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

"They say that sunlight is free, but for a northern greenhouse it's very expensive," he says.

"If I engineer a greenhouse to let in sunlight, I'm also engineering it to let out heat. I chose a closed dome because they're known to be highly energy efficient by virtue of their shape."

Read more at the Journal of Commerce
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