The seedling greenhouse is a smaller structure designed to provide replacement plants for those harvested in the aquaponics greenhouse. Very shortly after sprout­ing, the young plants are switched to being irrigated with fish tank effluent. This provides the maximum growth potential in the shortest amount of time. This part of the project will be an extremely rich learning environment.

Energy Plantation

The majority of the energy crops grown will be hybrid poplar and the project will utilize whole tree technology in the harvest and use of the trees. This means the entire tree is cut during the winter and processed into chips. The stump does not die — the root system is well established by this time — but rather the stump sprouts new shoots, which are then trimmed to one central leader. Because of the extensive root system, the tree reaches its original size again in 3 years rather than 5 and is ready for harvest once more. At least one year will be needed to assess the potential of the property, but in particular to plant cover crops and build soil fertility before planting energy crops. Given these restrictions, it will take 5 years from planting before the project is able to harvest a first crop of trees. Also, the project will be experimenting with salix (willow), alfalfa, and rapeseed (canola) crops during this 5-6 year lag in time. The project will also establish fish grow-out tanks on this land. However, the effluent will be used to irrigate outdoor energy crops during the summer and only produce vegetables during the fall, winter, and spring. The heart of this phase of the project is the gasification unit, which converts crop residues, stems from hay, and wood chips into synthesis gas. Feedstock is placed in the unit, which heats it to about 1500 degrees. The heat chamber is without oxygen so the feedstock will not burn, but rather give off a gas that is then filtered, cooled, and stored. This fuel cannot only provide heat and electricity, but also used directly in an internal combustion engine. The unit can also produce alcohol fuel and diesel fuel, #2 home heating fuel, and accommodate rubber tires as a feedstock. Excess heat from the operation of the gasifier will be used to dehydrate certain components for fish feed including the protein remains (DDGS — distillers dried grains and solubles) from the alcohol fuel project, vegetable waste and fish meal from the aquaponics project and other experimental feeds such as duckweed.