• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Engineering
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Engineering
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Scholarworks@UACommunitiesPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    Login

    First Time Submitters, Register Here

    Register

    Statistics

    Display statistics

    Efficient alternative food systems for earth and space

    • CSV
    • RefMan
    • EndNote
    • BibTex
    • RefWorks
    Thumbnail
    Name:
    Alvarado_K_2020.pdf
    Size:
    3.486Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Download
    Author
    Alvarado, Kyle A.
    Chair
    Denkenberger, David
    Committee
    Schiewer, Silke
    Karlsson, Meriam
    Keyword
    Greenhouses
    Food crops
    Greenhouse gardening
    Hydrogen bacteria
    Emergency food supply
    Astronauts
    Space flight
    Manned space flight
    Space biology
    Space greenhouses
    Plants for closed ecological systems
    Closed ecological systems
    Nuclear winter
    Gardening
    Show allShow less
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11122/12375
    Abstract
    Alternative foods are a source of human-edible calories derived from an unconventional source or process. This thesis includes two alternative foods: (i) crops grown under low-tech greenhouses in low sunlight environments and (ii) hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria (HOB) in space and Earth refuges, such as to repopulate the Earth. The purpose of alternative foods is to ensure food security for human survival. During a global catastrophic risk (GCR) scenario, such as nuclear winter or super volcanic eruption, the sun may be obscured, causing lack of crop production and therefore global food shortages. The purpose of this thesis was to improve the cost and energy use of producing food during a GCR by avoiding the need to use artificial light photosynthesis. As a solution, a low-tech greenhouse scaling method was designed that could feed the Earth as quickly and cost-effectively as possible during a GCR, such as nuclear winter. Using concepts derived for scaling HOB single cell protein (SCP), a cost analysis was conducted for space that relates to Earth refuges. The cost of HOB was compared to that of microalgae SCP and of dry prepackaged food in a closed-loop system. Low-tech greenhouses were designed with basic materials to continue the production of non-cold tolerant crops at low cost; cold tolerant crops would be able to grow outside of greenhouses where it does not freeze. Scaling of low-tech greenhouses, which would add a cost to food of $2.30 /kg dry, is currently one of the most effective alternative foods for Earth. HOB is an effective method of converting electrical energy into food, having an electricity to biomass energy conversion efficiency of 18% versus 4.0% for artificial light (vertical farming) of microalgae (other crops would be even less efficient).
    Description
    Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2020
    Table of Contents
    Chapter 1: General introduction -- Chapter 2: Scaling of greenhouse crop production in low sunlight environments -- Abstract -- 2.1. Introduction -- 2.2. Methods -- 2.2.1. Greenhouse design -- 2.2.2. Global market for components -- 2.2.3. Crop resiliency and global crop demand -- 2.3. Solution -- 2.3.1. Scaling approach -- 2.3.2. Economic analysis -- 2.4. Discussion -- 2.5. Conclusions -- 2.6 References. Chapter 3: Food in space from hydrogen oxidizing bacteria -- Abstract -- 3.1. Introduction -- 3.2 Methods -- 3.2.1. Calculation of equivalent system mass -- 3.2.2. Design of alternatives -- 3.2.3. Microbial energy efficiencies -- 3.2.4. Power generation methods -- 3.3. Results -- 3.4. Discussion -- 3.4.1. Life support considerations -- 3.4.2. Equivalent system mass contributions -- 3.4.3. Alternatives comparison -- 3.5. Conclusions -- 3.6. References. Chapter 4: General Conclusions.
    Date
    2020-12
    Type
    Thesis
    Collections
    Engineering

    entitlement

     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      Time and space scales of some oceanic and atmospheric parameters in the Gulf of Alaska

      Beegle, Cynthia Juyne (1986-05)
      Time series of monthly means up to 65 years long were examined to determine the time and spatial scales of variablity in the Gulf of Alaska. Sea level, sea level pressure (SLP), air temperature, fresh water discharge, sea surface temperature (SST) and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) are the variables chosen to gain insight into local and global responses in the gulf. This study reports four major results. 1) Sea level anomalies (variations from the annual cycle) are driven by wind and fresh water; temperature effects in sea level are not seen. 2) SST anomalies cannot be predicted from sea level data, but SLP in southeastern Alaska and air temperature in Seward may be useful indicators on a two to three month time scale. 3) On the whole, anomalies in coastal and interior Alaska weather occur together, with SLP 180° out of phase with air temperature and precipitation. Using empirical orthogonal functions, the Southeast and Southcoast district can be separated. 4) A statistically significant SOI signal is seen is both SLP (p>0.995, Seward) and sea level (p>0.995) records.
    • Thumbnail

      "Activating" Park Spaces in Anchorage’s Town Square Park (Research Note)

      Payne, Troy C.; Reinhard, Daniel (Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage, 2015-11-06)
      This brief research note describes an intervention designed to increase activity in Anchorage's Town Square Park in an effort to reduce public disorder in the park. An abbreviated evaluation of the intervention is included.
    • Thumbnail

      Numerical tidal models with unequal grid-spacing

      Mungall, J. C. H. (1973-05)
      A two-dimensional alternating-direction implicit numerical tidal model with unequal grid-spacing is developed and successfully tested. The method is essentially an extension into two dimensions of a one-dimensional implicit method in which tide heights and flow rates are evaluated on the same cross-sections, an approach which permits a river to be schematized into a number of sections of differing lengths. The two-dimensional scheme gives the user considerable control over the density of the computation points in a region by virtue of the fact that heights and depth-mean currents are evaluated midway between points of intersection of a grid constructed from orthogonal lines, the spacing between which may be chosed at will. The method is applied initially to the Irish Sea using a grid of constant spacing. The effects of increasing time step and friction on stability and accuracy are investigated, and the model is proved to be unconditionally stable. The results match those of previous investigators, and some new information on the M₂ currents of the region is obtained. The second application of the model is to a 'rectangular' North Sea, a favorable comparison being obtained when the region is schematized by two grids of equal and unequal spacing. Finally, the model is applied to Cook Inlet, Alaska, a region of complexity sufficient to warrant the use of a scheme possessing the unequal grid-spacing feature. Satisfactory results are obtained after tuning the model by adjustment of the friction coefficient. Movie films were made in order to conceptually clarify the tidal behaviors of the Irish Sea and Cook Inlet. Each film shows as functions of time, perspective views of the sea surface, and current vectors superimposed on a contour map of the sea surface.
    ABOUT US|HELP|BROWSE|ADVANCED SEARCH

    The University of Alaska Fairbanks is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and educational institution and is a part of the University of Alaska system.

    ©UAF 2013 - 2023 | Questions? ua-scholarworks@alaska.edu | Last modified: September 25, 2019

    Open Repository is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV
     

    Export search results

    The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

    By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

    To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

    After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.