Whitehead, Lorne (The University of British Columbia)

Purpose

Food insecurity is widely identified as a serious and growing problem in northern and remote communities in Canada. The food supply problem could be alleviated to a considerable extent by expanding the use of greenhouses built on non-arable land near the communities where the food is needed, thereby also reducing the energy required to transport the food. However, greenhouses are typically built as transparent structures that efficiently transmit the sunlight required for plant growth. Since transparent structures do not provide much thermal insulation, a traditional greenhouse requires significant energy use for temperature control in most climate conditions, and this energy use is prohibitive in cold northern regions. _x000D_