Participatory Sustainable Energy and Waste Management Infrastructures: Case Studies in Community-Based Environmental Systems

On New Year's Day, 2017, T.H. Culhane and Enas AbdelRahman presented to facutly staff and students at the Arava Institute on their continued work adapting biodigesters to cold climate situations, as well as a history of how Solar CITIES got started.

Event date

Sunday, January 1, 2017 - 12:00

Fat Beet Farm Biodigester: Florida's first Commercial Restaurant Scale Puxin Biogas System

Fat Beet Farm is the food service commissary and microgreen hydroponic and raised bed production farm serving the 5 Curci Family Noble Crust restaurants in Tampa.

Located in Oldsmar near the bridge to Dunedin and the Race Track, not far from the University of South Florida, Fat Beet Farm serves as a sustainable practice model for the Food Energy Water Nexus Zero Waste Initiative where Patel College Interns work for credit to put sustainable development theory into practice.

Working with fellow National Geographic Explorer Dr. Luke Dollar, Chair of the Center for the Environment and Catawba College's Department of Environment and Sustainability and his students, T.H. and Enas Culhane built a "twin dragon" Solar CITIES IBC tank digester system with floating IBC tank gas holder inside the greenhouse on campus. The system has 100 foot of pex coil in each tank connected to a propane gas water heater to circulate hot water in the system and will eventually be switched to biogas.

Participatory Sustainable Energy and Waste Management Infrastructures: Case Studies in Community- Based Environmental Systems

Fat Beet Farm Biodigester: Florida's first Commercial Restaurant Scale Puxin Biogas System

Catawba College Sustainability Department Greenhouse build

Participatory Sustainable Energy and Waste Management Infrastructures: Case Studies in Community-Based Environmental Systems