Eden Project in Cornwall,United Kingdom

The biggest ever greenhouse can be found in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The Eden Project opened to the public in 2001, becoming a venue for environmental education, as well as concerts for both local and international artists and bands.

Biomes

Yes, those thingies that look like weird beehives are called biomes. The steel structure can be seen from the outside, and that is not glass covering the giant bubbles, but plastic. The interconnected plastic greenhouses are covered with ETFE plates, ETFE being a thermoplastic material. There are three biomes: the Tropical Biome, the Mediterannean Biome, and the uncovered Outdoor Biome.

Water!

The area of the covered biomes combine to over 2 hectares. Watering all those plants could get REALLY expensive! The Eden Project though, implements a unique water system that combines the use of sanitized rainwater and the usual outside water source. The main water source is used for cooking and hand-washing, but the rest of the facilities (including water for the plants and toilet facilities) use the sanitized rainwater to the best advantage. It would have been quite ironic to make such an effort for environmental awareness, and in the process need to spend so much on water supply.

Renewable Energy

The whole estate runs on Green Tariff Electricity, which is powered by wind energy from wind turbines in Cornwall. The Eden Project also started a recent project in December 2010 to build a geothermal electricity plant which can power  not only the whole Eden Project, but also five thousand other households.

Tour the Eden Project for Free

Yes, you read that right. See the Eden Project for free, and right at the convenience of your own home to boot. Eden Project can be seen in Street View on Google Maps. Head on over to maps.google.com, type “Eden Project, Cornwall” and zoom in to Street View. Be amazed with the beautiful sceneries.

Did you know that the first documented version of greenhouses was constructed because of an ancient Roman emperor’s love for cucumbers? Read on for more interesting tidbits of how the greenhouse evolved starting from the time when glass wasn’t even invented yet.

Emperor Tiberius

This emperor of Ancient Rome lived in 30 AD, and liked to eat cucumbers daily. The precious cucumbers were exposed to the sunlight during the day, and then taken indoors at nighttime to be kept safe and warm. The crops were protected from outside elements by frames made from selenite or mica, laboriously melted and then put together. All of this was documented by Pliny the Elder.

Botanical Gardens

“Modern” greenhouses were first built in the 13th century in Italy. They were called giardini botanici or botanical gardens, and they were erected as a home to the exotic plants that Italian explorers brought back home. The Europeans loved the idea, and greenhouses started sprouting in Netherlands, England, and other countries.

Leiden, Holland

This is the location of the first “practical” greenhouse, built in 1599. It was used to house tropical and exotic herbs and plants, used in making health mixtures and antidotes. One of the plants housed there is the tamarind, which had come all the way from India.

Orangeries and Pineries

The French professed their love of a (way back then) newfound fruit, the orange, by building vast greenhouses to protect their beloved fruit trees from winter’s frosty grasp. It was considered a status symbol, and the rich hastened to build ones bigger and better than their neighbors’. Famous orangeries are the ones in the Palace of Versaille, and a structure built in 1619 in Heidelburg, sheltering 340 trees. The latter even had a removable roof! Another fruit that went in vogue was the pineapple. It was said that George Washington loved the pineapple so much that he had one built in Mt. Vernon to benefit him and his guests.