Captains of Industry

By Ted Page, Captains of Industry
Today’s Boston Globe business section features an article about how Star Market is slashing their energy costs and reducing their carbon footprint using a smorgasbord of technologies like LED lighting, and while this is very smart and commendable there’s another way to reduce energy consumption that’s even smarter – grow food on the roof. Check out Sky Vegetables. Based in Needham, Massachusetts, this company creates rooftop mini-farms for urban areas. Their solution is as ingenious as their food is delicious. Much of the food we find in today’s mega-supermarkets is shipped long distances, and manufactured by gigantic agribusinesses that have made well-groomed vegetables that taste about as good as their packaging. Sky Vegetables eliminates the large shipping expenses for food, eliminates the related carbon emissions (think Asparagus shipped to Boston from Peru), and encourages the growing of vegetables from heirloom seeds. Imagine tomatoes that taste like, well, tomatoes. And according to Sky Vegetables founders, their business model is profitable from the get-go. As their website states, “The Sky’s the Limit.” More power to them!