Grantee Research Project Results
2018 Progress Report: Biomass Greenhouse-heating systems to extend growing seasons for resource-limited farmers
EPA Grant Number: SU835939Title: Biomass Greenhouse-heating systems to extend growing seasons for resource-limited farmers
Investigators: Yu, Ok-Youn , Domermuth, David , Houser, James , Farrell, Jeremy , Arnold, Alex , Davis, Chelsea , Franco, Pedro , Neff, Eric , Schoonover, Christopher , Smith, Alan , O'Neal, Johnny , Sanborn, Jared , Febos, Barry , Atkinson, Mason , Mull, Henry , Linck, Jon , Miller, Gordon , Wells, Aaron , Holder, Jordan , Phillips, Jay , Anderson, Nathan , Beshears, Tyler , Joyner, Joshua , Roden, Elizabeth , Batzko, Gabbie , White, Harrison , Toy, Jamen , Houpe, Christian , Holmes, Anna Marie , Kim, Hei-Young
Current Investigators: Yu, Ok-Youn , Domermuth, David , Houser, James , Farrell, Jeremy , Arnold, Alex , Davis, Chelsea , Franco, Pedro , Neff, Eric , Schoonover, Christopher , Smith, Alan , Sanborn, Jared , Febos, Barry , Atkinson, Mason , Mull, Henry , Linck, Jon , Miller, Gordon , Wells, Aaron , Holder, Jordan , Phillips, Jay , Anderson, Nathan , Beshears, Tyler , Joyner, Joshua , Roden, Elizabeth , Batzko, Gabbie , White, Harrison , Toy, Jamen , Houpe, Christian , Holmes, Anna Marie , O’Neal, Johnny , Bradshaw, Aaron , Gaines, Rachel , Gaines, Rachel , Cyzman, Amy , O’Neal, Johnny , Bradshaw, Aaron , Cyzman, Amy
Institution: Appalachian State University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: II
Project Period: October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2017 (Extended to August 31, 2019)
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 2017 through September 30,2018
Project Amount: $74,555
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet - Phase 2 (2015) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Sustainable and Healthy Communities , P3 Awards , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality
Objective:
Our multi-disciplinary team will address three critical objectives that, once met, will allow the technology to be feasibly transferred to area farmers: 1) Complete integration of heating, storage, and delivery systems; 2) Development of an innovative, appropriate-scale cleaning and storage system for on-demand use of farm gasses; and 3) Outreach to farmers to assess needs and determine new greenhouse production capacities.
Progress Summary:
The on-going work of building out the integrated heating systems as well as general improvements to the research space have been made during this reporting period.
Objective 1: Systems Integration - More efforts have been made to test and refine (upgrade) the existing technologies at Nexus.
Objective 2: Farm Gas Cleaning and Storage - We have installed a unique small-scale biodigester to convert organic waste into cooking fuel and fertilizer inside the Nexus greenhouse (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Homebiogas system installed at Nexus
Objective 3: Farmer Outreach - We held a workshop on April 29th, 2018 in association with Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (BRWIA). BRWIA is a group in the High Country dedicated to improving local farming and building a vibrant local food system. The workshop we hosted by Springhouse and Against the Grain farms, two of our partner farms, focusing on root-zone greenhouse heating, biochar production, and solar and biomass process energy for heating and crop dehydrating
Future Activities:
Our main goal is to enhance farm productivity (season extension is part of it) by constructing, testing, refining, and integrating sustainable energy heating technologies. As the Nexus project continues assessing and refining heating technologies with local farmers to perform on-site research, we will be able to better assess the economic viability of our systems at scale.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 11 publications for this projectProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractP3 Phase I:
Biomass Greenhouse-Heating Systems to Extend Growing Seasons for Resource-Limited Farmers | Final ReportThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.