Please find below the
Finalist Evaluation
Judges'' ratings
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Judges'' comments
SUBJECT: Your proposal has been selected as a Finalist!
Congratulations! Your proposal, Vertical Hydroponic Farms Feed Urban Communities while Reducing Carbon Emissions, in the Land Use Contest, has been selected to advance to the Finalists round.
Be proud of your accomplishment – more than 350 proposals were submitted and only a very small number have been advanced through these two rounds of judging.
As a Finalist, your proposal is eligible for the contest’s Judges Choice award, as well as the contest’s Popular Choice award, which is determined by public voting.
If you haven’t already, you will soon receive an email from the Climate CoLab staff with details about the voting period. If you don’t receive that email within the next day, or have other questions, please contact the Climate CoLab staff at admin@climatecolab.org
All winners will be announced the week after the voting period ends, on September 12, 2015 at midnight Eastern Time.
Both Judges Choice and Popular Choice will receive a special invitation to attend selected sessions at MIT’s SOLVE conference and present their proposals before key constituents in a workshop the next day, where a $10,000 Grand Prize will be awarded. A few select Climate CoLab winners will join distinguished SOLVE attendees in a highly collaborative problem-solving session. Some contests have additional prizes given by the contest sponsor.
Thank you for your work on this very important issue. We’re proud of your proposal, and we hope that you are too. Again, congratulations!
Below is a summary of the Judges' comments:
• Interesting approach to address specific issue of how to grow food in cities
2015 Climate CoLab Judges
Semi-Finalist Evaluation
Judges'' ratings
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Judges'' comments
Congratulations! Your proposal Vertical hydroponic farms feeding urban communities and reducing carbon emission, in the Land Use: Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock contest has been selected to advance to the Semi-Finalists round. You will be able to revise your proposal and add new collaborators if you wish, from July 1st, 2015 until July 14, 2015, midnight Eastern Time.
At the revision deadline listed above, your proposal will be locked and considered in final form. The Judges will undergo another round of evaluation to ensure that Semi-Finalist proposals have addressed the feedback given, and select which proposals will continue to the Finalists round. Finalists are eligible for the contest’s Judges Choice award, as well as for public voting to select the contest’s Popular Choice award.
The Judges' comments are posted below.
Please incorporate answers to these comments in your revisions, or your proposal may not be advanced to the Finalists round.
Judge 1: I generally liked this proposal. It's clear what they want to do, and they have estimated the costs. The impact on climate change will be small at the beginning, but it's important to try different ways of getting food with less impact on the environment.
Judge 2: Well reported article and provided good information in all the topics. One question about the carbon impact is how many such articles could provide good information across Canada? Also, how much such work has been done elsewhere in the world?
Thank you for your great work and again, congratulations!
2015 Climate CoLab Judges
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 William Chu Jul 13, 2015 03:02  | Proposal creator
"The impact on climate change will be small at the beginning"
- We have adjusted our proposal from 3 farms in 2016 to upgrading the existing one to a larger scale with greater immediate impact (to prove model sustainability with limited labour resources) with possibility of YWCA partnership. Primary goal for 2017 is opening a vacant lot farm taking advantage of Vancouver's green initiatives. Partnerships and seeking grants are fostered throughout all stages.
"One question about the carbon impact is how many such articles could provide good information across Canada? Also, how much such work has been done elsewhere in the world?"
- Online resources on VHFs are scarce. Included a paragraph identifying that VHFs are gaining interest globally, but not on a large enough scale. Open source knowledge and resources can help address this.
"It is economical that volunteers would be utilized but may I ask if there is any way the starting and operating cost could be further reduced through use of locally-made or alternative materials."
- Though the Green Guys are volunteers at this point, the larger scale goals in 2017 will require paid labour due to knowledge, skills and abilities required plus time required to run the operation. We hope to attract graduate students for research and labour as well. We also feel is is not realistic to expect all communities emulating this model to operate volunteer run CSA that Green Guys currently operate.
- Yes, the materials used for construction can be tailored to what is available locally. For instance, locally sourced or recycled wood/metal can be used to the support structure and reservoir. Nutrient channels (pipes that plants sit in) can be ABS, PVS, HDPE, or other materials; all readily available in almost all countries.
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