1974 Newton Grad Hopes to Reinvent the World One Solar Panel at a Time (njherald.com)

The Hydroponic Garden--A Guide to Hydroponics
Hydroponics allows us to grow the plants, fruits and vegetables of our choice--even in limited space--without using soil. It's an amazing way to produce perfect specimens and offers TONS of advantages that traditional gardening can't come close to touching!

July 2, 2008
Paul Giacomantonio left small-town Sussex County to become an artist, an inventor, an iconoclast -- and a citizen of the world, as he puts it.

"We see this planet is an absolute mess, and if we want to change it, we need to go to the people who have nothing ... and prove that success is the best revenge," he said.

Giacomantonio is the creator of the Sun Curve, an invention that combines his craft of stonemasonry with some simple science and ecology. Half sculpture and half functional structure, it could have practical applications for self-reliance farming, from driest Saharan Africa to American suburban yards, to urban rooftops.

The Sun Curve essentially incorporates various well-known components into one structure: ecosystem, farming tool, fish pond, solar panels and wind turbines. It grows plants vertically, without soil -- and it could be a kind of Swiss Army knife of civilization.

But most recently, his life's experience has spurred him to connect more-advanced ecology with his art to meet a need. He was commissioned by a wealthy collector to combine all his abilities into one sculpture. The Sun Curve was the result.

It works on a multilayered aquaponic system. A fishpond holds water and nutrients that are pumped into a 15-foot, space-age steel arch with a coconut-fiber mat growing surface. The water is then channeled back into the fish pond, where it is purified by microorganisms. The water pumps are powered by solar panels and wind turbines. Everything is recycled, and it's efficient -- as little as 10 percent of the water required for normal gardening would be needed -- and even that could be provided by bathwater or from other normally unusable sources.

The Sun Curve is currently on display at the Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo, Calif. It's catching the eye of the public, said the museum's executive director, Rachel Meyer.

"At first blush, you see the beauty of it, but then you look closer and you see the complexity involved," Meyer said. "And you know he's drilled down into the research ... It just gets people to think differently, and that's what we're about here."

The public sector has also expressed interest in the Sun Curve, namely the cities of San Francisco and Philadelphia. The large private agricultural specialist General Hydroponics is also assisting on a specially-made, three-inch coconut fiber material preplanted with seeds for growing on the curve. Giacomantonio has even been talking with the United Nations' agency for refugees about practical applications of the device in war-devastated areas.

What's more, the Sun Curve also incorporates the power-generating capabilities of solar panels and wind turbines. As such, it would become an outpost of practical high technology in remote areas by providing crops, fish, electrical power and purified water.

read more ...

 Print this page