HydroHaus Dynamic Structures

The design of greenhouses boils down to two philosophical approaches:

• Traditional – Use brute force and massive energy to heat and cool the atmosphere within the greenhouse to compensate for the poor insulating capacity of the greenhouse structural envelope, and/or vent air into the atmosphere 

• HydroHaus - Use the HydroHaus structural envelope to prevent the buildup of heat and cold within the structure, and treat the smaller differential buildup of heat and cold with less energy

In this respect, traditional greenhouse design treats the symptom rather than curing the problem. On the other hand, HydroHaus provides an elegant solution with massive operational savings because it requires up to 90% less energy to operate. In this respect, we “nurture nature.”

HydroHaus has developed an improved growing environment which has a double wall and roof cavity that is filled with Dynamic Foam to provide insulation from extreme heat and cold, and to provide shading and diffuse sunlight. As the Dynamic Foam breaks down into solution throughout the day, the captured solar gain is stored in subterranean tanks that act as heat sinks. In this way, regenerated Dynamic Foam can provide nighttime insulation against the cold.

Because the traditional greenhouse does not "nurture nature," we do not want to be associated with something that now describes climate change: "the greenhouse effect." It is for this reason, we call our structure the HydroHaus.

Existing greenhouse technologies have not kept up with the technological improvements seen in other industries. As a result, our objective is to help deploy technologies that will help increase the profitability of both aspiring and existing local food growers.

With this in mind, we custom design & build commercial structures to maximize profitability and to minimize risk.

Key to this process is automated control systems to manage:

• Microclimate within the HydroHaus
• Growing systems
• Nutrient systems
• Gas and lighting supplementation

HydroHaus is an evolved improvement of traditional greenhouses. The key difference is the building envelope that maintains a cavity between two walls.

Both the outer and inner skin of the greenhouse use, a transparent structural fabric. While the outer skin provides a protective seal against the elements, the inner skin is an active and computer controlled thermal energy exchanger that regulates temperature, removes humidity from the air, and generates immediate shading.

Water scarcity is a direct result of climate change. It is a serious problem that will not resolve itself.

When you consider that plants transpire 99% of the water they absorb and that most greenhouses vent this humidity into the atmosphere, a valuable resource is unnecessarily wasted.

The statistics are staggering. For every pound or kilogram of plant mass grown:

• Between 200 and 1,000 pounds of water through transpiration is lost  

With our evolved design, this pure water produced by plants is collected and reused to cool the greenhouse, to store solar energy, and to feed the plants.

Dynamic Foam Insulation

When it is cold outside, the cavity between the greenhouse's inner and outer skin is filled with Dynamic Foam Insulation, which provides the equivalent of R30+ insulation versus R1 insulation for a traditional greenhouse.

Dynamic Foam Shading

On hot sunny days when the building interior needs to be cooled, Dynamic Foam Shading can be injected into the greenhouse cavity to create shade and to diffuse light, which is what plants prefer.

Because the HydroHaus diffuses natural sunlight, it is the ideal design to grow fresh produce in multiple vertical layers. Vertical growing is also ideal for supplemental lighting required in winter months.

We have focused on numerous vertical growing designs to accommodate a variety of crops because we believe in crop diversity. We believe monoculture commoditizes prices, which impacts profitability.

In every instance, our design is optimized to maximize:

• Plant density
• Ease of transplants
• Ease of service
• Ease of harvest

Plant roots have two functions:

1. To anchor themselves in soil and
2. To obtain water loaded with nutrients

Plants do not need to grow in soil. Instead, most greenhouses use hydroponic systems to grow produce. Hydroponic systems necessitate immersing plant roots in nutrient solution. The downside is that roots are deprived of oxygen, which reduces plant metabolism, and this slows plant growth.

Aeroponics is a subset of hydroponics. Instead of immersing roots in water, a fine oxygenated mist is sprayed onto the root system. When plants immediately access water and nutrients from a fine mist, instead of developing their thick anchoring roots, they develop the fine roots hairs that maximize nutrient uptake.

With increased oxygen levels, plant metabolism increases, and accelerated growth occurs.

For larger plants, we recommend Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) hydroponics, which deprives plants of oxygen. To address this shortfall, we add dissolved oxygen to the nutrient solution.

When plants immediately access water, nutrients and oxygen, instead of developing their thick anchoring roots, they develop the fine roots hairs that maximizes nutrient uptake. 

With increased oxygen levels, plant metabolism increases, and accelerated growth occurs.

Growing Performance is enhanced with the HydroPlug, which is rigid enough to hold plant roots in place, flexible enough to allow plant growth, and provides superior aeration and water retention.

The HydroPlug is a superior blend of high quality substrates, hydrophilic foam, micronutrients, beneficial fungi, and a balanced pH that produces healthier plants, and faster rooting for cuttings and young plants.

The HydroPlug is drenched in FullHydro, a biostimulant nutrient solution that combines a mineral salt solution with Fulvic Acid, which is used to chelate minerals and make them bioavailable to plants.

With the ideal conditions for perfect root development, healthier plants ensue.

Because our greenhouse creates a closed environment, and hot humid air is not vented into the atmosphere, carbon dioxide supplementation to 1,200 parts per million remains constant. With our ideal diffuse lighting conditions combined with carbon dioxide, plants thrive.

Likewise, we maintain plant roots in a sealed chamber that is enriched with oxygenated nutrient mist that increases plant metabolism to achieve faster growth and increased plant biomass. This is not possible with both soil and hydroponic growing systems.

By keeping the gas supplementation separate we provide the ideal conditions for both plant leaves and plant roots.

When our greenhouse has deployed the Dynamic Foam Shade system, light is diffused, which is ideal for plant growth.

However, in winter months with decreased natural sunlight, supplemental lighting can be deployed. To optimize energy savings, LED lights in the 440nm blue and 660nm red light spectrum are deployed to provide ideal conditions for plant photosynthesis.