Developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms

The concept of vertical farming is nearly twenty years old, however, there are only a few experimental prototypes despite its many advantages compared to conventional agriculture. Significantly, financial uncertainty has been identified as the largest barrier to the realization of a ‘real’ vertical...

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Main Authors:	Shao, Yiming, Heath, Tim, Zhu, Yan
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	IGI Global 2016
Online Access:	http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45124/ http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45124/ http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45124/ http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45124/1/heath%20IJAEIS%207%282%29%20article.pdf

id	nottingham-45124
recordtype	eprints
spelling	nottingham-451242018-07-02T09:15:20Z http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45124/ Developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms Shao, Yiming Heath, Tim Zhu, Yan The concept of vertical farming is nearly twenty years old, however, there are only a few experimental prototypes despite its many advantages compared to conventional agriculture. Significantly, financial uncertainty has been identified as the largest barrier to the realization of a ‘real’ vertical farm. Some specialists have provided ways to calculate costs and return on investment, however, most of them are superficial with calculations based on particular contextual circumstances. To move the concept forwards a reliable and flexible estimating tool, specific to this new building typology, is clearly required. A computational system, software named VFer, has therefore been developed by the authors to provide such a solution. This paper examines this highly flexible, customised system and results from several typical vertical farm configurations in three mega-cities (Shanghai, London and Washington DC) are used to elucidate the potential economic return of vertical farms. IGI Global 2016-04-01 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45124/1/heath%20IJAEIS%207%282%29%20article.pdf Shao, Yiming and Heath, Tim and Zhu, Yan (2016) Developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms. International Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Information Systems, 7 (2). ISSN 1947-3206 https://www.igi-global.com/gateway/article/158094 doi:10.4018/IJAEIS.2016040102 doi:10.4018/IJAEIS.2016040102
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
building	Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	The concept of vertical farming is nearly twenty years old, however, there are only a few experimental prototypes despite its many advantages compared to conventional agriculture. Significantly, financial uncertainty has been identified as the largest barrier to the realization of a ‘real’ vertical farm. Some specialists have provided ways to calculate costs and return on investment, however, most of them are superficial with calculations based on particular contextual circumstances. To move the concept forwards a reliable and flexible estimating tool, specific to this new building typology, is clearly required. A computational system, software named VFer, has therefore been developed by the authors to provide such a solution. This paper examines this highly flexible, customised system and results from several typical vertical farm configurations in three mega-cities (Shanghai, London and Washington DC) are used to elucidate the potential economic return of vertical farms.
format	Article
author	Shao, Yiming Heath, Tim Zhu, Yan
spellingShingle	Shao, Yiming Heath, Tim Zhu, Yan Developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms
author_facet	Shao, Yiming Heath, Tim Zhu, Yan
author_sort	Shao, Yiming
title	Developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms
title_short	Developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms
title_full	Developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms
title_fullStr	Developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms
title_full_unstemmed	Developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms
title_sort	developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms
publisher	IGI Global
publishDate	2016
url	http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45124/ http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45124/ http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45124/ http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45124/1/heath%20IJAEIS%207%282%29%20article.pdf
first_indexed	2018-09-06T13:38:37Z
last_indexed	2018-09-06T13:38:37Z
_version_	1610865565815013376

Developing an economic estimation system for vertical farms

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