Table top hydroponic planter

Going With the Flow: Stylish Designer Tabletop Hydroponic Planter

February 14, 2014 by Robin Plaskoff Horton

For space deprived design lovers who yearn to grow some of their own food, this contemporary designer tabletop hydroponic planter fits the bill. 

Challenged with reinterpreting an existing DIY planter project, design student Blake Burell created Hydropod, a sleek countertop  hydroponic planter which is as functionable as it is fashionable.

To complement the green and “organic nature” of the plants, Burell settled on white for the planter.  His solution built upon a somewhat common form of indoor hydroponic gardening, a nutrient film system. In his rebuild, he tested a few designs but settled on the one above which contains three individual planters. The automated system provides a constant flow of nutrients delivered via the water flowing over the plant roots.

Series of PrototypesWith designs like Burell’s which feature planter cups, one can plant a variety of edibles at the same time.

In the hydropod prototypes, a concealed water pump pushes water from a reservoir in the base to the top portion of the planter where it flows along the bottom of the cups containing rocks and the plants.

Water gets recycled from one end of the base to the other, then back into the reservoir and recirculated again to repeat the process. Individual planter cups are easily lifted out of the base to to be refilled with more nutirent-infused water. And so it flows.

The power of moss

http://www.urbangardensweb.com/2014/07/18/power-moss-biophotovoltaic/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

The Power of Moss: Biophotovoltaic

July 18, 2014 by Robin Plaskoff Horton

A modern designed table that incorporates the bright green life of moss is as urban-garden-chic as you can get. But wait there’s more.

The moss on this table has a job to do—and that job is to generate power. That’s what that big word is all about: Biophotovoltaic, or BPV for memory’s sake.

A BPV device generates electricity from the energy of light. This is not solar energy, but energy derived from good old photosynthesis, forever etched in our minds from elementary school science class.

Let’s have a quick review: Photosynthesis is a process by which plants and algae convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into organic compounds with the assistance of sunlight’s energy. Plants use the organic compounds generated in order to grow.

To take it one step further, we can look at moss specifically. When moss goes through the process of photosynthesis, some of the organic material is also released into the soil. Soil contains bacteria, which breaks down the organic compounds to keep itself alive. Byproducts are released through this process and they contain electrons, which the Moss Table captures and puts to good use. This biochemical material becomes electrochemical, thereby creating electrical energy from biological material.

Okay, we’ll shut the science book now.

Attractive and organically inventive, the Moss Table can produce about 520 Joules of energy per day. This would only charge a laptop for twenty seconds!

But before deeming this table attractive but useless, understand that this is one step toward what scientists anticipate to be a future of devices capable of generating much more energy. Coupled with the low energy laptop and appliances that are in the works now, Moss Table and similar creations just might bring enough power to a home to make a real (and stylish) difference.

Until then, isn’t this cool?