Energy use and climate inhomogeneity in greenhouses

Abstract

In the horticultural sector in the Netherlands a large amount of natural gas is used to optimize the climate inside the greenhouses. The idea is that growers use higher temperature setpoints for their climate computer to compensate for the cold or wet spots inside the greenhouse. The aim of this research was to estimate the energy impact of climate inhomogeneity in greenhouses and to investigate which factors could be responsible for climate inhomogeneity. There are static and dynamic cold spots. The static cold spots have infrastructural causes: faults in design, heating design, ventilation and screens. The dynamic places are caused by natural forces like outside temperature, solar irradiance and wind. Temperature measurements, with the use of wireless sensors, of two greenhouse are analysed to look for correlations with influencing factors. The energy impact was difficult to determine.