2026-04-17T07:38:49Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:2117/1154852026-01-12T12:01:53Zcom_2072_1033col_2072_452950

00925njm 22002777a 4500 dc Sanjuan-Delmás, David author Llorach Massana, Pere author Nadal, Ana author Ercilla-Montserrat, Mireia author Muñoz, Pere author Montero Camacho, Juan Ignacio author Josa Garcia-Tornel, Alejandro author Gabarrell Durany, Xavier author Rieradevall Pons, Joan author 2018-03 Vertical farming is emerging as an effective measure to grow food in buildings and can increase food production in urban areas in a more sustainable manner. This study presents a comprehensive environmental assessment of food production in an integrated rooftop greenhouse (i-RTG) – an innovative vertical farm consisting of a rooftop greenhouse connected to a building – and considers rainwater, residual heat (energy), residual air (CO2) and food from an industrial ecology perspective. This synergistic connection preserves resources and improves conditions in the greenhouse and the building. The goal of the study is to show the feasibility of the system and to calculate the environmental impacts from its whole life cycle, from infrastructure to end of life, by comparing these impacts with those of conventional production. The results show that the system is feasible and produced 30.2¿kg/m2 of tomato over 15.5 months. The synergy with the building allows the cultivation of winter-fall crops without supplying heating and maintained an average temperature 8¿°C higher than that outdoors. Moreover, rainwater was used to irrigate the crops, reducing consumption from the water supply network by 80–90%. The environmental assessment showed that the operation of the i-RTG has more impacts than the infrastructure (structure of the greenhouse, rainwater harvesting system and equipment) due to the use of fertilisers, which account for 25% of the impacts in four of the six impact categories studied. Regarding the infrastructure, the greenhouse structure and rainwater harvesting system of the building have substantial environmental impacts (over 30% in four of the six impact categories). Comparison with a conventional greenhouse demonstrates that the i-RTG has a better environmental performance, showing between 50 and 75% lower impacts in five of the six impact categories (for instance, 0.58¿kg of CO2 equivalent per kg of tomato vs. 1.7¿kg), mainly due to the reduced packaging and transport requirements. From this study, it was concluded that optimisation of the amount of infrastructure material and management of the operation could lead to even better environmental performance in future i-RTG projects. Peer Reviewed Postprint (author's final draft) Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroalimentària::Agricultura Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Desenvolupament sostenible Urban agriculture Food security Urban agriculture Vertical farming LCA Water-energy-food nexus Industrial ecology Agricultura urbana Environmental assessment of an integrated rooftop greenhouse for food production in cities