Reply To: turn heat into electricity

[Warwick]

zapkitty wrote:

The problem is that once you start living off aeroculture or aquaculture food, your population will develop significant deficiencies. You need mineral soil for … minerals, amongst other things. Magnesium, calcium, there’s a reason they’re called alkaline earth metals. And once you think of adding something to the water, there will probably be something else you haven’t thought of.

Sorry, but that’s just not true. Hydro- and aeroponics systems use tailored mineral solutions to start out with. What deficiencies are you speaking of?

Some organic farming enthusiasts and lobbyists tend to treat ‘ponics as a competitor and a few occasionally go a bit overboard. Factoids get into the wild that have no relationship with what actually goes on in a ‘ponics farm.

… and yeah, a hobby when I was younger 🙂

Well I guess if you get the basics right then it might be feasible; soil itself obviously varies in mineral content and often has deficiencies. But I’m sceptical that nutritional science is actually advanced enough for us to predict every mineral that is needed.

In your hobby experience, I imagine you found that the water gradually becomes clogged with algae? I’ve never grown anything in water without that happening eventually. How do you plan to then dispose of the water, given that it’s still full of Miracle Gro?