Passive organic cold store

“Ostoja Natury Passive Organic Cold Storage” with self-energy storage and heat management with a negative carbon footprint and high performance. Modern farmers require an infrastructure of the 21st century, using local potential, offering high utility value, and independence from long supply chains based on materials that are locally available on most European farms while maintaining environmental friendliness and meeting technical and sanitary requirements related to the storage and processing of ecologic food.

Concept – what is your project/action about

“Ostoja Natury Passive Organic Cold Storage” with self-energy storage and heat management with a negative carbon footprint and high (industrial-like) performance. Modern organic and regenerative farmers especially small and medium require an infrastructure that is very specialized, effective, and not expensive.

• Key Futures of Ostoja Natury Passive Organic Cold Storage:
• passive building
• made of 90% organic material – wood and hemp
• environmentally friendly
• reducing losses of stored food
• creating a unique ecosystem for long-term food storage.
• unique food storage quality: anti-fungus, anti-mold
• positive energy outcome
• negative carbon footprint
• makes organic production more profitable
• relatively low cost of construction
• supporting implementation of “farm to fork strategy”
• resilience to climate change
• integrated solar panels
• synchronize peak usage of energy while peeking production from solar
• a net zero building with positive net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is equal to or greater than the amount of renewable energy created on the site

Ostoja Natury Passive Organic cold storage is made in 90% of organic material: local wood and hemp bricks. The roof space is 100 % utilized for energy production allowing to cool the building fully autonomously. Hempcrete used in our building is a bio-composite material that contains a mixture of hemp, hurds, and lime. The usage of hemp for walls in our structure comes with many advantages:

• Non-toxic building material
• Hempcrete stores heat/cold in the thermal mass of its wall
• It’s resistant to mold
• It’s moisture-absorbent. One square meter of hemp wall can absorb up to 14 liters of water

Implementation – how are you implementing your project/action idea?

Developing “Ostoja Natury Passive Organic Cold Storage” was and is a very complex process, requiring cooperation with many specialists and inventors with different sets of skills.

First step: we had to specify our needs: long-term, low cost and environmentally friendly cold storage for the organic production of fruits and vegetables for 120 up to 150 tones of produce at any given time made with environmentally friendly materials which can be acquired and processed locally

Second step: develop the architectural project and acquire all the legal permits

Third step: construction in several stages

• base
• wooden frame
• hempcrete walls
• solar roof
• electric system and battery storage installation
• cold storage doors and cooling device

To develop a project without a founding (local, national, European) we have to build a cluster of partnering companies with great specialization to use already develop elements allowing for cost reduction and smooth realization.

Partners and suppliers in the project

• RSP Ostoja Natury cooperative – investor, author, and project leader,
• HempFlex (Belgia) – hempcreat supplier
• Wooden Homes Bartek (Poland) – wooden frame – preparation and installation
• Sunroof (Sweden-Poland) – solar roof – project and installation
• Andrzej Walczak (Poland) – sonic furnace
• Artur Choldzyński -arhiteckt
• Volt – Energy storage supplier
• KozBud – ground works execution

“Ostoja Natury Passive Organic Cold Storage” once implemented can be copied easily and be implemented in different sizes, fitting different needs – it is fully scalable and reproducible – it can be used in both city zones and rural areas and can be replicated with local partners and resources

Impact – what has your project/action achieved?

Our project is already providing great results for our Farm and local Bio Hub producer group and even though it is yet not fully finished it allowed us to hold most of our organic products for periods 09.2021 up to 06.2022 and 09.2022 un till now (02.2023) It is fully passive with net positive energy outcome, made mostly from local organic materials allowing better performance and cost-effective solution for cold food storage on an industrial scale. With negative carbon food print and great usability, it is a great support in the transition of farming to a more sustainable and climate-positive model. In a “farm to fork” strategy which concentrates on delivering a high-quality product directly to the end consumer cold storage Is a key infrastructure, especially regarding vegetable, fruits, meats, and dairy production but today it has a great carbon and environmental cost – most of the materials used in cold storing are steel, aluminum, the foam which has high environmental and real cost creating a barrier for development and growth of small and medium organic and regenerative farms. Our solution can have a great impact on upgrading EU farming infrastructure to carbon negative and energy positive because of low cost ( in cooperation with existing solutions), high effectiveness, low need for high-end materials and a very good ROI, and also great environmental benefits.

Further development of a short food supply chain, ecological and regenerative agriculture can not be developed properly without proper tools and solutions that are aligned with goals set up for the future of our continent ( green deal, carbon negative, etc) at some time we can not forget about the need of consumers by constantly and continuously meet the nutritional needs of customers from the region, and increase the trust of the end customer thanks to the possibility of ensuring: regular deliveries, adjusting their size to the needs, appropriate and equal quality of the raw material.