GRO Greenhouses

Product Description

GRO Greenhouses are the collaborative work of World Hope International and the Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship Program at Penn State. They are usable year-round, provide a controlled environment, reduce water consumption, and ensure crop production despite seasonal weather changes. The GRO Greenhouses lead to a 30% reduced growing time, 300% increased yield and 60% reduction in water usage. Locally sourced materials (except the plastic glazing) and simple construction design allow for construction in two days.

Target Users (Target Impact Group)

Distributors / Implementing Organizations

GRO Greenhouses

Manufacturing/Building Method

Locally sourced materials (except the plastic glazing) and simple construction design allows for construction in two days' time by two carpenters.

Intellectural Property Type

Trademarked

User Provision Model

Users can purchase a greenhouse by contacting the GRO Greenhouse sales team

Distributions to Date Status

Unknown.

Design Specifications

The GRO Greenhouse is constructed using wood and plastic glazing as the key materials. The wood is treated before it is used (treating the wood will help prevent pest damage). The dimensions of the GRO Greenhouse are 6m length, 6m width and a height of 3m. However, due to the modularity of the Gro Greenhouse, the addition of supplemental greenhouse sections can be added when the need to increase the food production space arises. Simple construction design allows for construction of the GRO Greenhouse in two days' time by two carpenters. A construction manual is provided by Gro Greenhouse, thus providing a procedure and best practices for the construction of the greenhouse. The greenhouse comes with an irrigation system that utilizes drip irrigation.

Technical Support

Technical Support is provided by GRO Greenhouse workers/agents.

Replacement Components

The materials used in construction are locally available.

Lifecycle

The greenhouse has an average lifespan of 5+ years.

Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters

The GRO Greenhouses performance targets are: 30% reduced growing time, 300% increased yield, 60% reduction in water usage and 6 months return on investment.

Vetted Performance Status

Unknown.

Safety

This product is not associated with any safety hazards.

Complementary Technical Systems

The greenhouse comes with a Drip irrigation System.

Academic Research and References

Bseiso, A., Abele, B., Ferguson, S., Lusch, P. D., & Mehta, K. ,2015, A decision support tool for greenhouse farmers in low-resource settings. In Proceedings of the 5th IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, GHTC 2015 (pp. 292-297)

Compliance with regulations

Unknown.

Other Information

In 2014, the GRO Greenhouse project was named an Innovation Awardee in the Securing Water for Food (SWIF) Grand Challenge for Development by the US Agency for International Development (USAID)