We often wonder about the benefits of indoor hydroponic gardening, given that the sun is free. After all, Illegal hydroponic installations are often discovered by their abnormally high electricity use. Last month Sami introduced us to the Omega Garden system; looking at it a bit more closely I wonder, can it make high tech urban gardening economically feasible and actually more energy efficient than growing outdoors?

But Vancouver based Omega Garden’s Carousel system rotates the plants around the bulb. They claim that it yields three to five times the weight of plant per watt of electricity used, compared to conventional flat systems. Their commercial carousel system produces as much as a 1500 square foot greenhouse in only 150 square feet, and their LED system just sips electricity.

They claim a lot of advantages; the light is always even and exactly the same distance from every plant, at a close enough distance to get maximum light efficiency. They even provide case studies: For basil, using Fluorescent light took 3.7 kWh to grow a pound; with LEDs, a tenth that at .0.38 kWh. But growing outside uses none, how do you justify this?

Using green power sources coupled with local consumption of the goods produced, would generate close to zero fossil fuel inputs compared to the present system of production with farm tractors, pesticides, a 1500 mile farm to market transportation statistic per food shelf item, along with packaging, refrigeration, etc., all of which are heavily dependent on fossil fuel inputs.

But the most interesting claim is that the rotation of the plants actually increases the yield significantly:

Geotropism relates to the effect of gravity on plant growth hormones called Auxins. Omega Garden discovered that if plants are continually rotated horizontally top to bottom these Auxins are evenly distributed throughout the plant aiding in plant growth and strength.
The distribution of Auxins due to plant rotation increases plant growth rates by several times that of a stationary plant assuming that all other factors are equal. This phenomenon has been termed “Orbitropism” by Omega Garden Int.

Source: Treehugger

The same headline can be seen in every local paper these days — “Hundreds of Pets Left at Shelters by Financially Strapped Owners”. Small towns and big cities alike are experiencing increasing numbers of pet surrenders at local shelters, and rescue groups around the world are getting creative in getting the word out about adoptions.

The latest attempt can be seen in New York City.

A new ad campaign, which debuted yesterday, asks city subway riders during their commute, “Is there room in your life for a homeless pet?” on print ads placed in train cars. A collaboration between the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals and Filter Advertising (who worked with the non-profit pro-bono), the ads themselves were made two years ago for an outdoor poster campaign and have now been recycled to take advantage of the eyes of bored commuters, hopefully spurring adoption. The campaign will be up until October 25th.

For those not in New York, you can check out all five ads on the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals website.

source: PawNation

7-year-old Gina Incandela sang the national anthem for the Orlando Magic before their home playoff games at Amway Arena. Little Gina is an Autistic child, but that didn’t stop her from doing what she really wanted to do.
Talk about inspiration.
This little girl has the type of powerful voice you would expect to be coming out of someone at least 3 times her age and about 3 times her body weight.
video after the jump (more…)

The charity for underprivileged children founded by Colombian pop star Shakira is to open its sixth special school in the singer’s native country.

The singer established Pies Descalzos in 1995 to improve education, nutrition, and the lives of the thousands of displaced children living in perilous conditions because of the violent internal conflict in Colombia. (more…)

If you don’t like how something’s done, do it yourself. Google is taking that idea to heart when it comes to solar thermal technology. The company has been disappointed with the progress in this sector, so it’s developing its own mirror technology that will supposedly make solar energy cheaper by at least half.
Google is experimenting with different materials for making the mirrors, trying to find an efficient and cheaper solution. (more…)