<
https://coloradosun.com/2024/11/19/solar-panels-rooftop-gardens-csu-spur-campus/>
"At first Jennifer Bousselot was furious. Her doctoral thesis on urban rooftop
plant cultivation was going to be sullied by the installation of solar panels.
The site was the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s downtown Denver office
and she had no say.
Then a funny thing happened. It turned out the plants under or next to the
solar panels, benefitting from the installation’s shade, had greater total
biomass, moisture content and overwintering survivability.
“We ended up with larger plants,” Bousselot said. “It was a happy accident.”
That accident — 15 years ago — set the now 46-year-old Colorado State
University assistant professor of horticulture on a career researching
rooftops, plants and solar. Along the way Bousselot upped the ante by growing
not just any plants but crops.
The goal is to combine the building cooling and heating advantages and
stormwater management benefits of a green roof with growing food and producing
electricity.
“Stacking all of those benefits on relatively small spaces really got me
absolutely thrilled, and so that’s what we’re trying to do,” Bousselot said.
And so, on her rooftop farm at CSU’s Spur Campus in Denver, Bousselot, who grew
up on a farm in Iowa, has grown chili peppers, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes,
onions and garlic. Carrots, spinach and arugula didn’t like it up on the roof —
too hot."
Via Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
