Log 1 on #FoodProductionSystems
I’ve been thinking of how this can be broken down in multiple manageable projects that then as a whole builds up to what we need. That’s the approach for all of this, really. In this case:
- #Nutrition Project: I’ve begun collecting the world’s nutrition guides to review them, and hope to derive from that what it is that we need to grow and make to feed the average human. Then, expand to variant diets, and companions (healthy diet for dogs, cats) and livestock.
From there we can then generate varying sample diets (that’d be a nice script) for fictional habitat habitants, and get a general idea of how much food and what kind of food we should be producing. Which also informs us of power requirements, space needed, etc. The scale of it all (which I assume is ridiculous for even one person, now for 10,000 people, but we can then iterate on making that more sensible after. Obviously, we do it on Earth or else we’d be all dead)
- #Hydroponic Supply Project: there’s a lot here, but my main thought was on the production of plant nutrients (how can we recycle it from the chain downstream) and of the parts of it. Right now, I’m using Mason jars, plastic tubs, rockwool, and LEDs. I’ll set aside the LEDs (that’s for the next project in this log), and think for now on what it grows in. Can we use #bamboo and #coconuts ? Coconuts for sure, coco coir, can replace rockwool. I need to try it out.
- Passive #solar lighting project: the last one as part of this, and this goes to environmentals too, is the idea of light tunnels for lighting. We have little skylight tunnel things that exist but, how far can we tunnel light? We probably lose a ton of it quite quickly since we can’t perfectly reflect light. And there’s heat problems (although that could be engineered into a heat benefit), but it’d be great to have a dedicated project to, for example, light a room using a bunch of light tunnels
- Also, open source nutrient solution.
That’s it for now. Now to #textile and #clothing for today, guided by the questions of: how does a t-shirt go from a bunch of cotton to a t-shirt? Shoes? Jeans? Underwear? I mean those are very easy questions, but I don’t know the details so, research is needed. Also, it would be good to get a lay on what does sustainability mean in this world, various fabrics, patterns and tools used, social and political issues around clothing, just, that world really.
@thejf I've been fascinated by textiles for ages. NPR has a great documentary where they literally follow a t-shirt thru it's journey around the world. Highly recommended as a way to get a rough bearing of the state of the art: https://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title
(also available on youtube)
In a simulated tropical biome, we could grow coconut trees, and there’s a variety of uses there for coconuts. But what is the industrial process for this? Needs research.
For bamboo, they could replace PVC pipes, but first they need to be waterproof. If a bamboo pipe is treated with something like tung oil, how good is it? Also, how is tung oil made?
Lastly, things like net pots and such. I suppose they could also be made from wood. #Bioplastics came to mind, so that’s another thing to go down