Chill-bitten passengers picked peppers from greenhouse plants as the Science Barge, a Yonkers-bound tourist attraction and floating educational center, was tugged up the wind-whipped Hudson River last week from Chelsea Piers to its new mooring at the foot of new residential development on the city”™s downtown waterfront.
A resourceful model for sustainable urban farming of the future and expected to be an immediate tourist draw for the city, the Science Barge was brought to Yonkers and saved from dismantling this winter by its new owner, Groundwork Hudson Valley, the nonprofit environmental organization based in Yonkers. It was designed and operated for two years as a demonstration project of New York Sun Works, a New York City nonprofit focused on sustainable engineering and agriculture. The ownership transfer and relocation to Westchester County were anchored by a three-year financial sponsorship commitment from the New York Power Authority in White Plains.Â
With a two-room greenhouse where hydroponic tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and other garden produce profusely grow, the barge operates off the electrical grid and is equipped with solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. Its crops are nurtured by recycled rain water. Its power center and offices are housed on deck in a converted shipping container. Its biodiesel generator burns waste vegetable oil from restaurants.
Resembling a rooftop in size and shape, the barge was designed to show that sustainable, productive farming is possible on the roofs of urban buildings such as schools and commercial offices. Building-integrated agriculture, as New York Sun Works officials noted, would reduce both the distance of pollution-producing transport from grower to consumer and the environmental impact of buildings.  Â
In Yonkers, the barge will be used as an environmental education resource for school groups, primarily from Yonkers schools, and an added tourist attraction, Groundwork Hudson Valley and city officials said at an arrival ceremony last week. It is moored at the foot of the Hudson Park North development, just north of the City Pier and the Sawmill River where it flows into the Hudson.  Â
The Science Barge in Manhattan drew 3,000 students and 6,000 visitors overall yearly, said Rick Magder, executive director of Groundwork Hudson Valley. “This is a major attraction. People come from all over the world and all over the country ”“ and now it”™s on the Yonkers waterfront.” Â As a model for sustainable farming and alternative energy uses, “This is where our future is heading with climate change and energy costs going up,” he said.
Along with the educational opportunity for children, “At the same time we have another reason for people coming to downtown Yonkers,” said Mayor Philip Amicone.
The state Power Authority (NYPA) has agreed to financially support the project for three years in Yonkers, Magder said. A NYPA spokesman last week said the amount of the agency”™s contribution had not been determined.
“This barge is a perfect match for our mission” to develop alternative energy, Sobeida Cruz, NYPA director of public and governmental affairs, told the shivering crowd at the pier. “We want to be able to educate, especially at a time when there”™s a fiscal crisis going on.”
Magder said the Science Barge will cost from $200,000 to $300,000 annually to maintain and operate. Groundwork Hudson Valley, he noted, is “only a $700,000 organization.” NYPA”™s financial commitment will “allow us to leverage their money for other funders.” Potential corporate sponsors include American Sugar Refining Inc., the barge”™s industrial neighbor on the downtown waterfront, Consolidated Edison Corp., Whole Foods and HSBC, as well as local and national foundations, Magder said.
Magder said the Science Barge will be open for tours at its current location for two to three years. The mayor wants to move the barge eventually to the city”˜s JFK Marina as the Alexander Street industrial corridor along the waterfront is redeveloped for mixed uses, he said.
“My intention is to keep it here as long as we can,” Magder said. “This is an ideal location for it.”    Â
