up! Contribution of Vertical Farms to Increase the Overall Energy Efficiency of Cities
Daniel Podmirseg
Göttingen: Cuvillier Verlag, 2016
English, 394 pages, hard- or softcover
ISBN 978-3-7369-9305-1
EUR 129.80

Ever since the publication of Dickson Despommier´s manifesto, vertical farming has been controversially discussed. Daniel Podmirseg´s dissertation sets out to find a raison d´être for this alternative food-production method.
The book investigates the current situation of the global agricultural economy. Land consumption, potential for enhancing productivity, and the maximal expansion of agriculturally used lands are the main topics explored in the first part of the book. Of particular importance is the calculation of energy expended gy global food production, which is ultimately compared to vertical farming through potential analysis. The cultivation and production methods of existing vertical farms are first compared, before three types are parametrically generated and their light and thermal energy demands analyzed.
The results disclose the potential of vertical farms and highlight inital design parameters and their influences on energy consumption. According to Dickson Despommier, professor emeritus at Columbia University in New York, this "copious work offers the best overview of all publications on this topic at present" and "emphasizes what it would mean to employ alternative agricultural strategies in feeding 9.6 billion people."

Daniel Podmirseg taught and conducted research from 2014 to 2016 as a university project assistant in the Institute of Buildings and Energy. His dissertation was written under the supervision of Professor Brian Cody.