Problem Statement
Climate change means sustainable ways of living need to be engineered to reduce the impact that humans have on the climate. An area with a large climate impact is food systems. From constant transportation to the added local stresses caused by industrial Ag farms and the weakening of cultivars our food systems are vulnerable. Many people try to grow some food at home, but it can be difficult to manage a small garden on top of the myriad responsibilities of modern life, particularly for those who live in urban areas. Further, growing indoors requires high wattage light(s) running for many hours to provide perfect light, this quickly adds up to larger utility costs, offsetting the financial benefit of gardening at home. Our idea is to build an automated greenhouse that can be mounted to the indoor frame of a window. The greenhouse will have dimmable lights, using ambient and any direct sunlight to reduce power consumption. We will also automate temperature & watering to reduce user interface.