Aquaponics in HKUST

Food production is one of the major energy expenses today. Many do not appreciate the energy spent during the production, and they are wasting food resources. Even though there are groundbreaking technologies that suggest a greener way to run the food business, people are skeptical of green businesses because of their profit generation. Regarding this issue, installing an aquaponic farm will not only create technological breakthrough but also serve as an educational medium to students.

Aquaponic farm consists of three major components: fishes, vegetables, and bacteria, with water running through each component in a closed circulation that is self-sustained through making use of ecological roles of fish, vegetables, and bacteria. This farm system minimizes the environmental waste generated in every process, thus serves as the platform for future technological testing for scientific researches on campus. On top of this, students will get to earn a perfect educational opportunity to understand the difficulty and complexity of modern farming and the global pressure of abundant food supply, as well as learn the idea of green lifestyle and environmental responsibility.

This project explores a sustainable way to: 1) recycle and treat water used to irrigate vegetables for raising fishes and 2) replace costly and environmental-harmful artificial fertilizer by naturally converted nitrate fueled by fish faces. A smart sensing and adjustment system will be developed to control the aquaponic farm to reduce the energy consumption and ensure the water qualities suitable for fishes and vegetables. Installation of sustainable farming system with a less-known, intelligent technology will spur the campus to become a living lab.

The project team has already installed and has successfully grown different types of vegetables on the aquaponic farm on campus. Ultimately, the aquaponic system will run automatically. The project is now transferred to the Conference Lodge to manage. A fully-operated prototype is now installed in the Unibar near the entrance. The maintenance will be covered by the Conference Lodge management team. The project demonstrates the possibility of a green food business model. Beyond the Clear Water Bay campus, this project and its design can be readily implemented on the HKUST Guangzhou campus. It also has the potential to be replicated in any hotel with the intention to demonstrate their green initiative. Nina Hotel group has shown the interest to expand its impact.