P.I.S.S.

Potato Importable Sustainable Storage

Engineered by Genevieve Camille Zarrehparvar, Zane Alexander
Walas, and Kyle Christopher Ramser
Problem : Hunger in barren areas
Over 12% of world's population suffers

Effects poor and developing countries

Main cause (Climate and weather)

Natural disasters :

Floods

Tropical storms

Long periods of drought

Top 10 countries affected
Haiti Timor Leste

Zambia Sierra Leone

Madagascar Chad

Yemen

Afghanistan

Sudan

Central African Republic

Our solution
Potato importable sustainable storage (P.I.S.S)

Overview: Containers of stacked potato farms that can survive off of minimal
conditions and resources as well as being replenishable and expandable
 How it works
A 10ft by 20ft shelf is filled with soil and nutrients. The boxes are stacked and have
sun reflecting mirrors and holes to disperse sunlight. To insure a steady water
flow, we added sprinklers with a pipe to a source of salt or freshwater. This will
allow a replenishable source of food that can be expanded in barren areas.
 Mirror
Prototype
● 7 foot spaces
between planters
● 5 inch deep
planters
● 10 by 20 foot
planters for yield
of 200 potatoes
per level
● 5 levels for 1000
potatoes per level
● Mirrors at 45
degree angle,
with mirrors on
bottoms of
planters to reflect
down onto plants
Why potatoes?
Potato production is environmentally sustainable and non intrusive

Require minimum care and attention

Continually self producing and expanding

High calorie food with low production cost

Can be watered with salt water

https://phys.org/news/2015-04-dutch-saltwater-potatoes-world-hungry.html
Zane’s Potato Biology Facts
-Potatoes watered with salt water are sweeter than regular potatoes because they
create more sugar to make up for the salt content.

-The salt from the water is stored in the leaves and not in the actual potatoes

-Potatoes plants ideally create 5-10 potatoes per plant

-Potatoes can be distilled into vodka(food and drinks!)

-The word potato comes from the spanish word Patata

-Potatoes are responsible for about 1,000,000+ deaths due to starvation in

Ireland(Woohoo!)
More of Zane’s Potato Biology Facts!!
-Potatoes were the first vegetable grown in space

-A potato has more potassium than a banana

-Potatoes are 80% water

-The Incas in Peru were the first people to incubate potatoes

-The largest potato weighed 7 pounds and 1 ounce

-Potatoes can be served in 50+ different ways

-Sweet potatoes suck

Current limitations
Funding

No long-term research

Cooperation of solution in barren areas

Maintenance
Hooray P.I.S.S.!!