I recently took the time to visit The Plant, a place that has begun to captivate an audience within the sustainable living crowd, as well as in various media outlets. It’s located in a building that used to be a 93,500 square foot meatpacking facility, just south of Chicago, in the economically distressed neighborhood, Back of the Yards.

WELCOME TO THE PLANT

The Plant is a culmination of various “businesses.” Technically speaking, it’s a vertical farm, but in reality, it’s so much more than that. The Plant is a net-zero energy facility; within the building, there is a “shared kitchen” and multiple tenants, and the waste of one becomes the fuel for another.

Aquaponics!

Current tenants include 312 Aquaponics, Greens & Gills (sustainably farmed fish and veggies by way of aquaponics), Skyygreens Aquaponics, Pleasant House Bakery, Peerless Bread & Jam, and Thrive Kombucha. The Plant is currently seeking a craft beer brewery to make their home in the building in order to complete the “closed loop” system. Once everything is in place, it will be completely off the energy grid: self-sufficiency at its finest!

Location for the brewery

SO HOW DOES IT ALL WORK?

This is where things get interesting.

First of all, there are three principles on which environmental science is based on.
1) Reliance on solar energy
2) Biodiversity
3) Chemical cycling

It is these three principles that provide a natural and holistic way for the world (and those in it) to continue to thrive. If we begin to employ more techniques within each of these principles (i.e. gathering energy from the sun to warm houses or water, protection of various species, composting or recycling), we will pave the way for a more sustainable walk of life.

For The Plant, chemical cycling is where it’s at. Chemical cycling is when chemicals within the environment go through organisms and then back into the environment, and it occurs by natural processes. The earth never gets a new supply of these chemicals, so it’s important for the process to recycle itself as efficiently and thoroughly as possible.

The Plant’s energy conversion is primarily sourced by a machine called an anaerobic digester. Built from a jet engine, it’ll “eat” about 27 tons of food a day: the waste produced in the building, as well as some from neighboring companies. According to The Plant’s website, “The digester will capture all of the methane from that waste, and the methane will be burned in a combined heat and power system to produce…electricity, plus all the process heat needed for an onsite craft beer brewery. Excess heat will be used in an absorption chiller to regulate the building’s temperature.” The digester will divert about 5,000 tons of organic waste to be used for the different energy, without any other use of fossil fuels. In addition to providing its own heat and electricity, The Plant will be energy efficient.

BUT HOW DOES A MACHINE DO THAT? WHERE’S IT ALL COME FROM?

Within the digester are thousands of microorganisms. Those microorganisms breakdown biodegradable material, and the gas produced from that chemical process gets converted into electricity.

The biodegradable material comes from the tenants within the building. The Huffington Post breaks it down: “Fish feed on spent barley from the brewery, and plants feed on waste from the fish. Kombucha cultures feed off oxygen produced by plants, while plants feed off carbon dioxide produced by the kombucha cultures.” It’s a brilliant cycle that utilizes any and every waste possible.

WATCH THE CHEMICAL CYCLING IN ACTION

A PROJECT IN ITS INFANCY

Back of The Plant

I had read a lot about The Plant prior to my visit and went with the notion that a lot of the concepts they spoke about were already implemented. To my surprise, however, the project is still in its very early stages. The brain child of John Edel, president of The Plant, is the first of its kind, so there is a lot more time and care needed in the acquisition (and creation) of city permits regarding the building, construction, marketing of food, health regulations, etc. I was fascinated with everything they have come forward with thus far though.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

As the world’s population rapidly grows, we are increasingly running out of space to grow food. The ability to harvest food not only indoors, but over multiple floors of space and on rooftops, changes our food security situation. If we are able to efficiently utilize buildings for growing fish and produce, then we can begin to tackle the hunger issues that are present in our very own communities.

On a larger scale, The Plant is trying to ensure a replicable business model. They will provide a “complete, free business case study on our website, including detailed financial and technical information (outline due 2012, full report due 2016),” as well as hosting seminars for the public, professionals, students, and educators to learn about energy, food, and sustainable living.

Hanging around while others tour

The Plant is located at 1400 W. 46th Street, Chicago, IL 60609. Tours are available every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday at 2pm for $10.