This is the overall view of the complete food production package. Research for this project was originally ordered by an independent corporation considering a way to produce food near a large metropolitan area and selling the products via a co-op joint venture. Their focus was on elimination of transportation costs, resolving problems associated with food storage, freshness and quality control with emphasis on low impact on the environment and limited use of space. Other goals were to explore solutions for feeding large numbers of people in hostile environments or in developing countries in crisis.
As the research progressed on the individual components, an international construction company became interested in the possibility of growing food in a hostile environment such as a desert where water and heat were the limiting factors.
A complete cost benefit analysis was done following the initial research on feasibility of construction of such a facility and after calculations were completed that indicated total crop output which was designed to produce a complete diet for 5000 people year round. An additional study was conducted to determine the energy consumption tradeoff in calories for all the food produced for a 20 year period including the energy expended to build the hardware.
The final research and development study focused on energy cost accounting. This study was designed to determine how much energy was going to be required to produce, run and manage the facility over its life time compared with the energy produced in the produced coming from the facility over that life time.