Vegetables grown with waste heat from data centers

Is it possible to use waste heat from data centers - to grow vegetables without soil in a subarctic climate? The idea was the starting point for the entrepreneurs behind the award-winning company Containing Greens. Today they are making Norrbotten more self-sufficient and a more sustainable region.

At the beginning of the summer, Moa Johansson and Adrian Arrosamena Mellgren found themselves in a virtual meeting room on Zoom to solve a task: to identify in a few minutes a problem related to the Norrbotten region's development strategy and the UN Global Goals. Later that day, there was not only an idea, but a vision and a plan for the summer that more people would join.

- Containing Greens is the result of those first minutes, and a summer of hard work. Ellinor Emilsson found us via Instagram and Andreas Eklund, our chairman, fell in love with the idea during our final pitch in Impact Lab, says CEO Moa Johansson.

The idea saw the light during an idea development program

The idea for Containing Greens and growing vegetables without soil, also called hydroponic cultivation, using waste heat from data centers was born together during an idea development program at Luleå University of Technology. During the summer, students had the opportunity to work with business development in cases from industry and researchers, or with their own ideas as in the case of Containing Greens. The work is done in teams with other students and with coaching from the experienced idea coaches and business developers at Luleå University of Technology.

The idea coaches gave us the tools we needed to build our idea from scratch.
- Moa Johansson, CEO

The idea coaches' support to Containing Greens continued during the fall, where they received free and confidential support to develop their ideas and innovations no matter what stage the idea is in.

Johan Bergström, idea coach at Luleå University of Technology, is the one who still coaches Containing Greens.

- It has been a pleasure to support the students in Containing Greens, as they work hard, are goal-oriented but at the same time responsive. They have managed to grow in the team and attract interest from the data center industry, which means that they can now prove their concept in a real environment," says Johan Bergström.

Moa Johansson gives her view of the collaboration.

- The idea coaches and especially Johan Bergström, our supervisor, gave us the tools we needed to build our idea from scratch. We were helped to understand when it was time to take a step back, question the choice of direction, and change to a stronger and better direction. The phrase "kill your darling" was recurring!

Fresh vegetables and reduced climate footprint

According to Norrbotten's food strategy, 91% of all vegetables consumed in Norrbotten are imported. The same source states that 60 percent of the regional population's carbon footprint can be traced to the food we consume and the transportation of food. Being able to produce more food locally is therefore important in the quest for a reduced carbon footprint and increased sustainability.

The entire sub-Arctic climate zone with 70 million inhabitants faces the same challenge in its food production and could be a potential market.

At the same time, there is a strong establishment of data centers in the region, an activity that generates large amounts of heat that no one uses today. Containing Greens saw the opportunity to use the waste heat to grow vegetables all year round in containerized hydroponic farms.

- We are developing a module based on shipping containers. It has room for 2800 plants that can grow all year round with the waste heat from data centers. This reduces the carbon footprint compared to traditional greenhouses that are heated with, for example, diesel," Moa explains.

- Our goal is to offer the public sector our affordable vegetables as they have an incentive to serve local and sustainable food in their kitchens. We have validated the offer with a number of municipalities in Norrbotten and have received a good response. But the potential market is bigger. The entire subarctic climate zone with 70 million inhabitants is facing the same challenge in its food production and could be a potential market.

Containing Greens has a pilot plant at RISE in Luleå where the cultivation technology is being tested.

- During the winter of 2020, we have had our first harvest of parsley and a number of other vegetables.

Won prize in Venture Cup IDEA

Containing Greens was one of the five best ideas among over 300 entries when Venture Cup named the top list in its IDEA competition for the Northern region. A total of three of five top-placed ideas have been supported with idea development by the idea coaches at Luleå University of Technology.

- It feels powerful and honorable to be on the Venture Cup's top list. The win means a lot, for us personally but even more for the company. We want to increase Norrbotten's self-sufficiency through our cultivation modules and we believe in our idea. Now we got proof that there are more people who believe in it," concludes Moa Johansson.