BioPod Container

Biopod is a closed-loop vegetable production system for producing organic salat, microgreen, tomato, chili, cucumbers etc., using renewable energy and surface/rainwater. The Biopod uses renewable energy from solar cells, for its electricital consumption, and from heat pump for heating/cooling of the BioPod. We call the Biopod an off the grid solution. 

The BioPod solution is a closed-loop food production, operating on a household- or a community level, and integrated as a new urban farm concept of Eco villages and Industrial agro food parks.

Target groups

We create value to:

Restaurants by recycling and reuse the organic waste and supply local produced and healthy vegetable with reduced waste to the restaurants and their customers.

Municipality by recycling and reuse the organic waste in the city.

Eco village with the BioPod as a shared resource facility to be used by the residents. The Eco village can also sell the produced vegetables to surrounding cities, and thereby create a business for the community.   

Developer or real estates, that deliver green apartment projects or refurbishment to existing apartments in cities. The BioPod will be established on the roof as shared resource facility for the residents (food cities).

BioPod Container in Skive

The performance of the BioPod container is demonstrated in Skive, that produces vegetables through soilless cultivation. Depending on the customer demands, the container can be constructed as a combination or a single solution of the modules below: 

• Salad in a Moving Gutter System (MGS)
• Cucumber in buckets
• Tomatoes in buckets

Leasing agreement

It is possible to lease the BioPod container with 5 up to 10 years payback time and without the need of down payment.

Life cycle assessment

To ensure and document the environmental benefits of the BioPod container, a life cycle assessment (LCA) has been performed in Skive.

One 40f BioPod container produces 1,680 kg of tomatoes and cucumbers or 12,373 kg of salad per year.

The overall results indicate environmental benefits and climate change mitigation when the selected vegetables are cucumbers, tomatoes or lettuce.

Economic assessment

An integral part of sustainable development is the economic viability of the systems taking part in the innovative urban farm solutions. The BioPod container consists a long-term, scalable solution for vegetable production with an expected lifetime of 20 years. The revenues of the container are sourced by the sales of vegetables while as expenses are considered both the capital and operational costs.

The BioPod container is assessed for its potential to perform economically viable under the three scenarios of vegetable production. The three scenarios are: 

1. Tomatoes in buckets 
2. Cucumbers in buckets
3. Salad in the MGS (Moving Gutter System)

The economic viability assessment of the system is performed with the Net Present Value (NPV) method. The NPV method can indicate to a potential investor whether a project is worth investing in or if depositing money at a bank (or alternative investment) is a more rational choice.

The capital investment is considered to occur in Year 0 while the operational costs and revenues start occurring after Year 1 and a period of 20 years. 

The scenario of salads grown in the MGS system presents a profitable investment. It is worth mentioning, that the BioPod container has a flexible growth design, which can be modified according to the demands. Thus, if the container was designed for the salads, tomatoes and cucumbers to occupy 50%, 25% and 25% of the available area in the container can be a highly profitable investment. 

We also have BioPod installed in a Tiny house in Odder: www.petersholm.com
We are exporting the BioPod solution to China and India, through our local partners. In India it is the Govardhan Eco Village and in China it is the World Green Design Organization.