By David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca
Passive solar greenhouses might be just what’s needed for people in northern climates to grow their own local food and enhance food security.
That’s the conclusion Sadru Nazarali came to when he discovered Fresh Pal Farms in Alberta, that has installed five passive solar greenhouses each the size of half a soccer field to grow vegetables with no fossil fuels, just solar energy.
“I was reading a lot of articles about Mr. Dong in Olds, Alberta, growing winter vegetables without external heat in a passive solar greenhouse,” says Nazarali.
Food growing is a very competitive business, and having to pay gas bills in the tens of thousands of dollars makes fossil fuel-heated greenhouses a tough way to go.
“So here the energy requirement is either zero or very, very little,” says Nazarali.
We have covered passive solar greenhouses on Green Energy Futures, and there are some amazing examples in Canada, but mostly they are one-offs built by groups with special knowledge.
But apparently, the idea of passive solar greenhouses is very well developed in China, where farmers often don’t have much land and need efficient and economical ways of producing food.
Commercial passive solar greenhouses in Alberta
I have known Sadru Nazarali for many years, and he invited me on a trip to Olds, Alberta, where we toured the Fresh Pals Greenhouses.
Fresh Pals Greenhouses is owned by Jianyi Dong, and there are ten greenhouses, five of which are these large passive solar greenhouses.
The greenhouses are reminiscent of Earthships, with a large thermal wall on the north side and walls on the east and west ends. The back wall is half a metre thick and made out of clay. We have done several stories on Earthships.
It’s a thermal wall designed to insulate the greenhouse from the north winds and store passive solar energy which streams into the greenhouse during the day.
The roof is two framed layers of plastic, about 3 feet apart, which forms an insulating layer of air over the entire south-facing roof.
Then there is a one-third-inch black blanket that is rolled out by an electric motor at night to help hold the heat in the greenhouse.
The whole idea is to use as little fossil fuel energy as possible and use as much solar energy as you can.
Then there are vents at the peak which can be opened to prevent overheating on hot summer days.
The greenhouse has small pipes that run row by row through the greenhouse for watering the plants.
A gamechanger for northern climates
In a place like Alberta, Canada, this is a gamechanger.
Dawn Buchert ran Shirley’s Greenhouses near Didsbury, in southern Alberta. She’s also an instructor at Olds College in a special greenhouse program.
She also took us on a tour of her former greenhouse operation called Shirley’s Greenhouse, a 36,000-square-foot conventional greenhouse heated by natural gas.
She had a very hard time making it work. Part of this has to do with the tough economics of heating a greenhouse in the northern climate of Alberta. Natural gas bills reached as high as $10,000 per month.
“Part of the reason I didn’t make it in the industry is because it was too small for the industry,” says Buchert, adding that you either have to get bigger or direct market your produce.
Buchert sold the greenhouse and new owners are now operating it.
Passive solar – the way to go
Buchert is sold on the idea of passive solar greenhouses now. “If I were to ever build a farm again, I would do exactly like he’s [Jianyi Dong of Fresh Pal Greenhouses] done here as opposed to what I had.”
Egertonians and Friends
Sadru Nazarali is part of an alumni group called Egertonians and Friends. They number about 120, and most were graduates of Egerton Agricultural College (no Egerton University) in Kenya, where Nazarali was from.
“In 1965, after finishing grade 12, I got an Aga Khan scholarship to study in the all-white agriculture college in Kenya called Egerton College to do agriculture studies,” says Nazarali. The school is now called Egerton University.
Nazarali is Ismaili, a diverse group of Muslims who originated in the Middle East and now make their homes around the world.
The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of the Ismaili people worldwide, and the foundation does global development work tackling poverty around the world.
Nazarali’s group, Egertonians and Friends, is an informal group of mostly Ismailis, who are no spread around the world. Many of whom are also now successful businesspeople in Canada.
They are now on their own mission to do projects for the public good.
Nazarali was quite taken by the opportunity these passive solar greenhouses presented, so the Egertonians decided to order 10 passive solar greenhouses.
“We are bringing six to Canada and four to Pakistan. These are trial models of 600 square feet, where we are going to try to teach them about agronomy, value-added crops, and how they can be self-sustaining for their own vegetable growing,” says Nazarali.
Northern Pakistan has a similar climate to Canada.
Passive solar greenhouse education
The group approached Olds College about offering a greenhouse management course, and former greenhouse owner Dawn Burchert is the instructor.
“We have 45 students who just completed that six-month course under the Canadian greenhouse lecturer, Dawn,” says Nazarali. “And there are 25 students from Pakistan, 10 students from India, 10 students from Afghanistan, and 10 students from Canada, the majority from Alberta, who finished this course.”
The purpose of the initiative is to make people aware of global warming and enhance food security, says Nazarali.
“From the pilot project, we hope to bring this project to the general Canadian community at large,” says Nazarali.
Their goals are to help Canadians and Pakistanis become self-sufficient in vegetables, save money, live a healthier life, and help mitigate the impacts of climate change.
After the tour, I got a ride back to Edmonton with Jon Ali, one of the students and an Ismaili immigrant from Afghanistan, who is being helped by the Egertonians. It’s a virtuous circle. Sadru benefited from an Aga Khan scholarship when he was young and couldn’t afford to go to college.
Now the Egertonians are layering together support for Ismaili immigrants, education, and helping with food security in Pakistan and Canada.
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