Sky Greens is the world’s first low carbon, hydraulic water-driven vertical farm that integrates green urban solutions to use minimal land, water and energy resources. Sky Greens produces tropical leafy vegetables that are harvested fresh daily. It is a place where continuous innovation and creating solutions takes place to increase production efficiency while minimizing waste. Sky Greens aims to be the top dog in providing solutions to sustainable and green urban agriculture through finding ways to minimize the damage done to the environment, increase productivity of these farms, and integrating these solutions into urban living. 

Sky Greens uses a vertical farming system that consist of rotating tiers of growing troughs mounted on a A-shape aluminium frame. This type of vertical farming brings about various advantages. Firstly, it allows for high yield of crops since the system intensifies land use and thus results in at least 10 times more yield per unit land area. The crops produced would also be of high quality since the structures are housed in controlled environments allowing for stringent control of input materials, bringing about food supply, food safety, food security and food quality assurances. 

 

There are of course other forms of vertical farming, coming in different shapes and sizes and having different kinds of structures. Many are carried out as soil-free systems, namely hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics. There has also been instances of companies developing a system by stacking recycled shipping containers in urban settings with different companies developing different kinds of internal environments for the crops and also different monitoring systems such as an artificial neural network.

 

Sky Green’s challenge of feeding singapore is a tough one, with our country having an estimated population of 6.9 million by 2030 and only 8% of vegetables are grown locally by 46 local vegetable farms. Not only that, the farm land available in Singapore has also decreased by 16% in the last 10 years. Here’s a picture of Bok Choy grown in the Sky Greens compound!

Healthy plants being grown in the greenhouse! 

Sky Green’s impressive and advanced pulley system which helps with the movement of the vertical structures!

 

Having fun at Sky Green without Khoon Hwee! 

Sky Greens philosophy is to harness natural energy, reduce, reuse and recycle resources and streamline their operations to lower operating costs as well as to exploit the laws of physics to create production space. Interdisciplinary research benefiting the world at its finest!

 

NUS High Students within the Greenhouse, looking at the pulley system which exploits laws of physics by using a Hydraulic-powered system! Rainwater collected in ponds is directed into the patented Water Pulley System which utilises momentum of flowing water and gravity to rotate the layer. It takes around 16 hours for 1 cycle, but valve can be manually adjusted according to weather conditions. Layers of planter boxes are lowered down to water trays where soil absorbs water (which is from the hydraulic system). 1 pump is able to power multiple towers and each tower is 9m tall with a base of 3m by 1.7m.