Sky Harvest Rainwater Capture System Project

On January 22, 2013 our team met with Aaron Quesnel, the founder and owner of Sky Harvest – a new local company specializing in developing sustainable rooftop greenhouse facilities on commercial buildings for food production. Ara, the CBEL Project Coordinator, also participated in our meeting, which provided a lot of support in terms of defining our scope of work, and setting a balance between the client’s requirements and the project criteria.

Sky Harvest – What is their mission?

Sky Harvest aims to design greenhouses that grow common produce found in the local markets. Such produce include tomatoes and lettuce, as well as spices. Organic techniques will be used and the produce will be sold fresh as it is convenient to harvest and would even allow customers to pick the produce themselves. These greenhouses will be located on commercial building rooftops, and will incorporate modern and sustainable technologies and strategies. Aside from growing crops and developing a local business, Sky Harvest also wants to educate the community about the importance of sustainability, and ways to achieve a greener lifestyle in cities such as Vancouver, which is investing more and more money into green technologies every year. For example, the greenhouses will utilize efficient heating and light systems, and the residents would be able to learn more about these new, greener innovations. Community outreach is one of Sky Harvest’s priorities; in order to create a sustainable environment, the community must be engaged and socially aware about the idea of renewable technologies and sustainable food production systems.

Project Update

From the meeting with Aaron, we have learnt his expectations regarding this CBEL project. Specifically, these expectations include:

• A general design schematic of the rainwater capture system that is applicable to most rooftops greenhouse
• An estimated budget and cost per square foot of the system
• A research on the building attributes, loading types, calculations, logistics, etc. to sustain the system
• Precedent studies about similar projects such as Lufa Farm in Montreal (Information will be provided by Aaron)
• A feasibility study document, by the end of the project  which includes 4 major components: conceptual design, construction work plan, cost estimate, and construction schedule

Having learnt these expectations, our team immediately broke down the work for the project and have assigned the following work to the respective individuals:

1. Conceptual Design – Callum, Dan, Joanne
2. Construction Work Plan – Joanne, Heather
3. Cost Estimate – Dan, Kevin
4. Construction Schedule – Callum, Kevin

From this point on, each member is expected to do some individual research on his/her own respective topic.  This includes precedent studies on current “green” technologies.  Additionally, a regular group meeting will be held once a week to gather  our thoughts, to make sure we are all on the same page and the project progresses smoothly.  For now, the next step is to cooperate with Sky Harvest in creating a “Terms of Reference” document which will be submitted to Dr. Froese and Dr. Staub-French in the first week of February.