Profits seen in soil-free produce

POTSDAM — An award-winning business plan created by two Clarkson University graduate students and a recent alumnus outlines a way to generate millions in revenue by growing plants in the air.

Daegan A. Gonyer and Shaun M. Jones and alumnus Sean P. Bonnell recently took second place in New Energy New York's 2011 New York State Business Plan Competition, held in April in Albany. The business plan, for which they won $5,000, describes the economic feasibility and environmental benefits of a large climate-controlled greenhouse in which produce could be grown year-round.

"There were a lot of innovative ideas there, but it was focusing on who has a viable business," Mr. Gonyer, who is pursuing his master's degree in engineering science, said about the contest. "Ours was unique in that we were the only ones who dealt with any kind of direct agriculture. This whole project is just to grow produce as efficiently as possible, economically and environmentally, in an area where we can't grow year-round."

The planned greenhouses use aeroponic technology, which allows plants to be grown without the use of soil, and features an advanced plant-monitoring system for maximum energy efficiency. Preliminary tests of the plan have been conducted, with a pilot facility constructed on Clarkson's campus successfully producing radishes, watercress and several varieties of lettuce this spring.

The three hope to move their project, which they have incorporated as Blue Sphere Industries Inc., into Clarkson's new small-business incubator in Peyton Hall by the end of the summer. There, they will investigate the economic feasibility of the project, creating two full-time jobs and raising $90,000 in the process.

The Peyton Hall project won't resemble a typical glass-paned greenhouse. Rather, it will consist of 100 aeroponic units spaced over 10 carts. Similarly, a full-scale greenhouse, which the researchers hope to begin constructing in three to four years, is expected to generate about $3.3 million in annual profits, but will feature only one traditionally translucent wall.

"The building itself is designed to be more optimally efficient in terms of balancing the energy needed for lighting and the energy needed for heat," Mr. Gonyer said. "Because we're so far north, you don't get a lot of direct light through any wall other than what's facing south. The southern wall is designed to be a translucent wall, and we're using materials with far better insulation properties than glass."

Thus far, the fledgling business plan has met with success. A crop of lettuce grown in the Clarkson facility this spring saw a 90 percent reduction in water use, a 60 percent reduction in fertilizer use and an 88 percent reduction in greenhouse gases and fossil fuel consumption.

The project is funded through a $75,000 grant sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency's P3 Student Design Competition for Sustainability. It also has received support from Clarkson's Student Projects for Experiential Engineering Design program, the Shipley Center for Innovation and faculty adviser Susan E. Powers, associate director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment.