VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Nov. 16, 2012) -Alterrus Systems Inc. (CNSX:ASI)(OTCQB:ASIUF) today announced online local grocery delivery service SPUD.ca as the first retail grocery customer of its Local Garden produce, which is being grown in North America's first VertiCrop vertical greenhouse constructed on top of a multi-level downtown parking garage.

Alterrus' Local Garden has also made commitments to supply its produce to Vancouver's Fable Restaurant, along with the following Vancouver restaurants:

• Hawksworth
• Whet
• Cioppino's Mediterranean Grill
• Boneta
• Ciba

Alterrus' VertiCrop vertical farming enables Local Garden to provide fresh, delicious and sustainable local produce without the need for genetically modified seeds or chemical pesticides or herbicides. All produce grown for the Local Garden customers is picked and packed onsite and delivered to customers the same day. This growing system has been recognized by Time Magazine as one of the world's Top 50 environmental technologies.

Local Garden produce will be available to clients of SPUD.ca, Fable and the other restaurants in the next few weeks. Further produce sales contracts will be announced in the coming days.

"We welcome SPUD.ca and the other restaurants as our first Local Garden customers," said Christopher Ng, Alterrus CEO. "They are leaders in connecting consumers with fresh, sustainable, local food."

"We're very excited at SPUD.ca to be involved with Alterrus and its Local Garden produce," said Peter van Stolk, company CEO. "We're impressed with not only the produce but the way it's grown." He added: "Through this partnership,we truly meet our own objectives of sourcing local, sustainable produce."

Trevor Bird, owner of Fable Restaurant, said: "I can't wait to start using the greens that Local Garden is growing for us. The rooftop vertical farm setup and location are highly impressive. The local food philosophy is in keeping with our mission at Fable. This project is a recipe for success in business and in product quality."

The Local Garden greenhouse is almost 6,000 square feet, with 4,000 square feet devoted to growing produce in trays, stacked 12 high and circulating on conveyers to give plants even access to heat, light and humidity. The remaining space is used for picking and packaging. The greenhouse uses less than 10 per cent of the water required for traditional field agriculture, while producing significantly higher yields. Almost all of the excess water will be recycled, and, because all of Local Garden's customers are local, its carbon footprint is minimal. The carbon footprint involved in shipping produce from California to Vancouver is double the total footprint generated by Local Garden.

The Local Garden urban farm will operate year round. Its controlled growing environment shelters its produce from contamination, natural disasters and irregular weather patterns that are challenges for growers of traditional field produce.

Local Garden Vancouver Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alterrus.

For more information, visit [ www.alterrus.ca ].

About Alterrus Systems Inc. Alterrus is a publicly traded company (CNSX:ASI)(OTCQB:ASIUF) headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. It is a world leader in the development, manufacturing, operation and integration of commercial VertiCrop technology for global markets. Alterrus has created a sustainable vertical growing system that grows fresh, nutritious, leafy green vegetables in urban environments where they are to be consumed. Using a fraction of the resources needed for traditional field agriculture, Alterrus generates substantially higher yields than conventional farming.

Safe Harbor for Forward Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking information, in that it describes events and conditions which Alterrus Systems Inc. reasonably expects to occur in the future, and statements including opinions, assumptions and estimates. Forward-looking statements include information that does not relate strictly to historical or current facts. When used in this document, the words "seeks", "anticipate", "believe", estimate", "expect", "forecast", "intent", "may", "project", "plan", "potential", "should" and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to a wide range of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including inability to complete sales in process or develop positive cash flow from anticipated product sales, and although the Company believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will be realized. We have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those current expectations or estimates expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. The risks and uncertainties that could affect future events or the Company's future financial performance are more fully described in the Company's quarterly reports (on Form 6-K filed in the US and the financial statements and Form 51-102F1 filed in Canada), the Company's annual reports (on Form 20-F filed in the US and the financial statements and Form 51-102F1 filed in Canada) and the other recent filings in the US and Canada. These filings are available at [ www.sec.gov ] in the US and [ www.sedar.com ] in Canada. For all such forward-looking statements, we claim the safe harbor for forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

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