The Science Barge is a floating urban farm and environmental education center that has been docked in Yonkers, New York, USA since late 2008. The Barge grows crops using a hydroponic greenhouse powered by

solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s, and

biofuels Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (E ...

. The crops in the greenhouse are irrigated by captured rainwater and desalinated river water. Food is grown without carbon emissions, no agricultural waste is discharged into the watershed and no pesticides are used. The Science Barge is also a public education tool and hosts school groups from

Westchester Westchester most commonly refers to Westchester County, New York, immediately north of New York City. __NOTOC__ It may also refer to: Geography Canada *Westchester Station, Nova Scotia, Canada United States *Town of Westchester, the original seat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and the greater New York area visiting during the week, and the general public on weekends. From 2006–2008, the Science Barge docked for periods of two months at each of six stops along the Manhattan waterfront with the goal of educating the public on urban sustainable agriculture. In 2015, Nathalie Manzano-Smith and

Ted Caplow Theodore "Ted" Caplow (born 1969) is an American social entrepreneur, environmental engineer, and inventor. He is the founder of greenhouse science lab provider New York Sun Works and the co-founder of AgTech supply-chain disruptor BrightFarms. ...

won the Knight Cities Challenge grant competition from the

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...

with a proposal to build a

Miami Science Barge The Miami Science Barge (also known as the Science Barge) was a floating marine laboratory and education platform docked in Museum Park, Miami, FL since 2016. The Barge, designed to help support a more sustainable city, had three main areas of foc ...

and moor it in Museum Park in downtown Miami, FL. The Miami Science Barge opened on Earth Day, April 22, 2016. The following April, the Barge was gifted to Frost Science Museum. Compared with the original Science Barge, the Miami Science Barge places more emphasis on marine science, conservation, and sustainable aquaculture, while also updating many of the urban agricultural systems featured on the original.

Early history in Manhattan

The Science Barge was conceived and designed by

and built by New York Sun Works, a non-profit organization that developed the project in order to educate students and teachers about the science of

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

through hydroponic farming. The exhibits and ecological experiments that comprise the Science Barge float on a steel deck barge, approximately 115 feet long, constructed in the 1940s and used for cargo and utility work in New York Harbor until leased by New York Sun Works from Hughes Marine in 2006. The Science Barge urban farm systems were built on the barge in Red Hook, Brooklyn in the summer of 2006, and deployed briefly to pier 92 before opening to the public at pier 84 on May 4, 2007, adjacent to the

Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises is a boat-based sightseeing and entertainment company in Manhattan, New York. Its principal business is operating guided tours of New York City from its base at Pier 83 in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. History Ci ...

; and the

Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum The ''Intrepid'' Sea, Air & Space Museum is an American military and maritime history museum in New York City with a collection of museum ships. It is located at Pier 86 at 46th Street, along the Hudson River, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhoo ...

. Over the next two years, the barge also made several visits to pier I in Riverside Park South as well as the

Chelsea Piers Chelsea Piers is a series of piers in Chelsea, on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located to the west of the West Side Highway ( Eleventh Avenue) and Hudson River Park and to the east of the Hudson River, they were originally a pa ...

complex in lower Manhattan.

Move to Yonkers

After touring for two years, New York Sun Works sought a permanent home for the Barge and decided to sell the Science Barge to Groundwork Hudson Valley in

Yonkers, NY Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York (state), New York, after New York City and Buffalo, New York, Buffalo. The popul ...

in October 2008 for $2.00. Groundwork Hudson Valley is a non-profit organization focused on

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...

in distressed communities in the lower Hudson Valley. In November 2008, the Science Barge docked in Yonkers, at the mouth of the

Saw Mill River The Saw Mill River is a tributary of the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York, United States. It flows from an unnamed pond north of Chappaqua to Getty Square in Yonkers, where it empties into the Hudson as that river's southernmost t ...

. The site has helped attract visitors to the downtown Yonkers area especially due to its accessibility by mass transit. The placement by the Saw Mill River, a major

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

, has called attention to the current restoration work and continued the revitalization of downtown Yonkers. Groundwork Hudson Valley uses the Science Barge to provide a research, training, and development platform for its Yonkers-based food programs including the Get Fresh Yonkers Food Co-op, Farmers Market, and Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA).

Technical details

The greenhouse on the barge is approximately 1200 ft2, purchased new from Nexus, Inc and constructed in place on the barge. The structure is aluminum and secured to the barge deck via bolts and custom-made welded steel brackets. The walls of the greenhouse are glass and the roof is a rigid, doubled walled polycarbonate plastic. Ventilation is achieved via four mechanical fans, a padwall evaporative cooling system, and a large, automatically controlled atrium roof vent to maximize

passive ventilation Passive ventilation is the process of supplying air to and removing air from an indoor space without using mechanical systems. It refers to the flow of external air to an indoor space as a result of pressure differences arising from natural forces ...

. Rainwater is harvested from the greenhouse roof and stored in tanks with a 1200-gallon aggregate capacity before being used to irrigate hydroponic crops in a broad and constantly evolving variety of different growing systems and media. The barge has also hosted a number of aquaponic and marine science experiments, including cultivation of tilapia, catfish, crayfish, clams, and oysters, among others. The energy systems on the barge, in their original configuration, included 2.5 KW of solar capacity mounted on passive trackers, 2 kW of

micro wind turbine Small wind turbines, also known as micro wind turbines, are used for microgeneration of electricity, as opposed to large commercial wind turbines, such as those found in wind farms. Small wind turbines often have passive yaw systems as opposed ...

s, a 4 kW biodiesel backup generator, a large lead-acid battery bank providing 1000 amp-hours at 48 volts, and associated support hardware. The barge also deployed a semi-custom reverse osmosis system to desalinate water from the Hudson River for backup use.

Response

The public launch of the Science Barge on May 4, 2007 was attended by dignitary speakers including New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, New York State Senator

Thomas Duane Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

, noted ecological design pioneer

John Todd John Todd or Tod may refer to: Clergy *John Todd (abolitionist) (1818–1894), preacher and 'conductor' on the Underground Railroad * John Todd (author) (1800–1873), American minister and author * John Todd (bishop), Anglican bishop in the early ...

, who in his public remarks called the Science Barge "a crucible for visualizing the city of the future" and United Nations senior adviser Jeffrey Sachs who said that “The Science Barge is not only an invitation to ideas and learning, but to change.” In March 2009, the Science Barge was named "Best Class Trip" by ''New York'' magazine in its annual "Best Of..." issue. In July 2009, GOOD created a short video of the purpose and methods of the Barge. In the same month, former CBS News Anchor Dan Rather hosted an episode of "Dan Rather Reports" on the Barge. A hydroponic greenhouse, inspired by the Science Barge, opened in 2010 on the roof of the Manhattan School for Children. The Science Barge has been covered by the New York Times, ABC World News, Voice of America, Science, and the Economist, among others. A double-page photo of the Science Barge appeared in National Geographic in March 2009 as part of an issue dedicated to energy efficiency. Interest in the Science Barge has continued as awareness and public interest in sustainable food production methods and

Building-integrated agriculture Building-integrated agriculture (BIA) is the practice of locating high-performance hydroponic greenhouse farming systems on and in mixed-use buildings to exploit synergies between the built environment and agriculture. Typical characteristics of B ...

has grown. During an August 2014 visit to the Science Barge, Westchester County Legislator Catherine Parker said “"I think really that the county government is making such a mandate of doing this. I'm hoping that residents will also see that this is the way that they can do their part too."

Sources

Official WebsiteColumbia University's Teachers College Video on education on the Barge
* ttps://nymag.com/bestofny/kids/2009/class-trip/ ''New York'' Magazine Rated Best Class Tripbr>Article in New York ObserverNew York Sun Works, creators of The Science BargeGroundwork Hudson Valley Science Barge FAQTripHoney Tourism for Teens Video on the Science BargeEarth Institute of Columbia University article on the Science BargeNews 12 Westchester "Solar energy booms in Hudson Valley"

References

{{Reflist Hydroponics Science museums in New York (state)