My friend Jenn and I met a few years back in an organic gardening class at ASU. It was August in Phoenix 115° and she and I were the only two that were willing to double dig the garden. We became fast friends. Since then she has Graduated with a masters degree in hydroponics, been to the government site in Antarctica to run their food production, did a stint in Anguila (tiny island somewhere) to set up food production for a resort and…now this.

A year ago she was hired to develop The Science Barge. http://www.nysunworks.com. The grand opening is tomorrow (Friday May 4) and I am in NYC for the festivities. I received a quick tour today and will be heading down, video camera in hand, to get the whole story. If you are in NYC and want to join us it opens at 9:30 am.

Here is what I know so far besides it’s a really cool project. When you look at the picture the six grey panels on the left are Photovoltaics (solar panels that make electricity), you can also see above the lime green office some wind turbines, and to top it off on the energy front they have a back up generator if they run out of solar.

They are pulling rainwater from the roofs of the two greenhouses and using that for the the hydroponics. On their rainwater catchment system they even have a first flush system that flushes the first 50 gallons so that any undesirable stuff is not collected.

I was in the greenhouse today and there were cucumbers with leaves the size of dinner plates, tomatoes, peppers and salad greens. Plus when I arrived they were setting up the tilapia pond and interestingly enough needed some help. I spend much of my 20’s designing and building small scale aquaculture systems.

So early in the morning I will be off to Hello World (http://www.hwc.tv/) the video camera rental house to pick up and get trained on the use of the camera. Never done this before. With any luck in the next week or two I’ll post a video blog with Jenn telling us all about it. Just told a friend that I am a bit nervous. It will be fun though, as those of you that know me know that I am willing to jump in and learn something new at the drop of a hat…more tomorrow.

Greg

PS. As an added bonus I am staying with a friend and when I look out the window one direction I see Washington Park and look the other way I see the Blue Note Jazz Club. Always great to have good friends in wonderful places. Thanks Michael.

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