Underground farms could use redundant tunnels and fix carbon dioxide

Many regions around the world are riddled with tunnels that are no longer in use. Coalmines whose reserves have been depleted; civic air defence infrastructure from more troubled times; many are currently lying abandoned, and are often underneath land which cannot be used for cultivation, such as cities. Researchers from Nottingham University are about to embark on a research project to determine how such tunnels could be reused as underground farms, both providing space to grow crops and forming a sink to absorb carbon dioxide.

Civil engineers around the world have in recent years become interested in underground building techniques, trying to solve the problem of increasing populations by building downwards rather than upwards. However, most of the effort has looked at residential, retail or commercial space rather than considering agriculture.

Prof Saffa Riffat, chair in sustainable energy at Nottingham's faculty of engineering, is working with research fellow Prof Yijun Yuan, a specialist in mining engineering and sustainable energy, on the two-to-three year project, which will focus on opportunities in the UK and China.