URBAN FARMING
GUIDELINES
GROOF
"This mainly site focuses on the guidelines, which are a summary of GROOF's experience in designing and building an energy efficient rooftop greenhouse, they contain feedback from existing projects and advice for each phase of the project development. In the communication part, you will also access to testimonies from coached urbanfarms projects. Maeva SABRE (CSTB, Fr) - 2022".
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OUR GUIDELINES TO LEAD YOU THROUGH THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION PROCESS OF A ROOFTOP GREENHOUSE
Designed to focus on your project's carbon footprint
By Maeva Sabre (CSTB), Nicolas Zita (CDEC), Patrice Clément (CEC), Sibylle Cavalier (CEC)
The purpose of these guidelines is to help rooftop greenhouses (RTG) project owners to introduce energy, construction, and production synergies with the host building in their business model in order to strengthen its robustness while reducing CO2 emissions.
Existing buildings that do not comply with current thermal regulations can lose up to 30% of stored heat on average through their roof in winter. In addition, heat and CO2 can be collected through the ventilation systems. The quantity depends on the building’s activities and usage but also on the technical specifications of the installed systems. Each building is different (in size, use, location, materials, energy equipment configuration, bearing capacity, etc.). Because of that, each situation is different and has to be treated accordingly.
However, those specificities do not necessarily imply the use of expensive technical innovations to connect the greenhouse to the building. Any greenhouse manufacturer should be able to build and implement RTGs aimed at reducing CO2 emissions.
The present innovation lies in the combined work of the construction and agriculture sectors in the design and construction stages to connect the greenhouse to the building in an efficient and cost-effective manner, and also in terms of its management and operation. A successful collaboration will result in a project that will consume less energy than the two structures managed separately.
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These guidelines are designed to answer the needs of 4 major stakeholders who will use them in practice: building owners, financial partners, farmers, and project partners.
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Are you motivated by the idea of growing vegetables and plants and distributing them locally?
Are you an expert in one of the skills required by the project but maybe not in all of them?
Are you wondering how to start such a project, the steps to undertake, the priorities, and how to optimise them?
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Our team of experts carried out numerous observations (visits to existing RTGs, meetings of project stakeholders, etc.), and actually tested four pilot projects in the exclusive property of GROOF. They also coached to 10 others ‘early adopters’ projects, 5 of which were followed more in depth. Based on this experience and collected data, we organised this document according to the success factors identified for RTG projects with a reduced carbon impact.
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This website is structured in six sections:
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Preparation phase of the project
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Execution phase
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Exploitation phase
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Feedbacks
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Pilot Projects
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Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Depending on your profile, you may be an expert in one (or more) of the covered topics and not be an expert in others. In any case, we hope that these guidelines will bring you answers and bring you closer to the success expected for your project. You will find additional reference files for each chapter for you to go deeper into a specific subject.
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