My name is Julian and I am the cook that created this concept. I cook soup for a living in Norway and I love my job. Our soup kitchen is right beside a farm and this means fresh ingredients for my customers. (but not all the time.). We have a little problem. It gets really cold here.  Our temperature ranges from +25C to -25C ( 77F to -13F). Norway imports a lot of fresh fruit and veggies. More than 10 billion Kroner ($1.2 billion) a year. This got me very worried about the future.

I could not stop thinking about the amount of food being transported around our planet on a daily basis.The environmental impact this creates every day is massive. Sometime during December 2014 while staring at a pallet of vegetables that came from several thousands of kilometers away. I decided to try to find a better solution and so began the concept of Ygdrasyl.

Below is the first building draft that I introduced to the Norwegian Prime Minister last August. I was explaining the concept of a building that grows food, converts energy, uses robots and collects water. She was intrigued by the idea and wished me luck.

After months of researching and studying. There was one challenge I was having difficulty with. How do you plant and harvest 50,000 heads of Lettuce on multiple floors efficiently and cheaply?? My answer came one day unexpectedly. After coming home from work I made some dinner and put on the movie Mission Impossible (Ghost Protocol). I was enjoying the film when I saw a fight scene with Tom Cruise in a car park building with a robot in the middle. It turns out Volkswagen in Wolfsburg Germany,constructed 2 of these buildings for their cars. This was my answer!! Instead of moving cars why not move food? I started designing and never even got to finish the film. Sorry Tom. Below is a photo of Ygdrasyl Interior and the Volkswagen Carpark.

Ygdrasyl is possible today simply because of the technology available today. It’s cheaper, more advanced and more efficient than what it was 10 years ago. This is important because it makes the Ygdrasyl concept feasible and realistic.  Below is just some examples of the innovations available today that make this concept more viable.

1.Transparent Solar Panels from a Silicon Valley startup Ubiquitous Energy
2. Batteries from the Tesla Giga Factory. Advanced cell and battery technology mass produced.
3. Aeroponics by Aerofarms. Indoor growing technology without the use of soil.
4. Rainwater harvesting systems by Brae
5. And a few more innovations that we would like to keep to ourselves for the moment.

My ultimate goal is to hopefully build Norway’s first vertical farm, but I know there is still a lot to do before I get there. This is why I started this campaign. The priority is to let people know that the Ygdrasyl concept exists. This is where your contributions will be going. We plan to attend exhibitions, meetings, seminars and maybe even create events and parties. This would make Ygdrasyl visible to other companies, universities, and other organizations. This could provide us an opportunity to develop partnerships and contacts that could make Ygdrasyl a reality one day.

How can you contribute to this awesome campaign? Check out our perks!!!

$ 6 Hooray!! A big high five from us and some karma points

$ 15 We will shout your name from a top of a beautiful Norwegian mountain. You also get a big high five and some karma points.

$ 30 Your name will be written on our support wall for Ygdrasyl Eternity. We even promise to sometimes greet your name and wave when we walk past the wall.

Ygdrasyl badges are made from reclaimed wood. This also adds a uniqueness to this perk. No badge is the same.  All badges are handmade in my friend’s carpentry workshop. My friends and I even did all the stitching on the caps. The wooden badges are removable so you can interchange them. This feature also comes in handy when you want to wash your shirt or cap. We hope you like our Ygdrasyl merchandise. 

$40 Women High-quality 200g shirt with an Ygdrasyl handmade badge. (Choose from Blue, Grey, and White).

$40 Men’s High-quality 200g shirt with an Ygdrasyl handmade badge.  (Choose from Blue, Grey, and White).

$45 Ygdrasyl Cap: Early bird special. Limited to the 1st 50 caps of the campaign. A high-quality cap with an Ygdrasyl handmade badge. 

$50 Ygdrasyl Cap: Choose from a variety of colors and style available. Remember you can always interchange your badges with your friends. Includes one handmade Ygdrasyl badge.

$100 The Package: This includes a cap, shirt, stickers and 2 handmade Ygdrasyl badges.

$150 The Capos: This includes 2 caps, 4 stickers, and 2 extra handmade badges.

$500 The Meeting: Do you really like the Ygdrasyl concept? This perk gives you the opportunity to meet with me. We can discuss vertical farming, sustainability and renewable technologies for at least 2 hours. (The meeting would be in Norway).  

$10,000 The sponsorship: Let’s get this concept started already!!! This entitles your company to be a sponsor for the next 12 months. You also get a cap and a shirt.


Risks and Challenges:

 

We cannot guarantee anyone that Ygdrasyl would become a reality one day. I realize that I am a broke entrepreneur trying to build an ambitious project. All I can say is that we all need to start somewhere and we do not know where we will end up. Your contribution will be combined with my efforts to try to give us and future generations better access to food and better management of our resources. I am very proud to be a part of this project. I hope you will be too.

You can also support our campaign by getting the word out and making some noise!! Woop Woop!!!

  

Use the Indiegogo Tools to get the message across… the future looks bright.