Week 6 Monday: Energy Friendly Greenhouses and Vertical Farms (10/5)

Co-generation of heat and power

Cogenerators allow for an efficient use of heat, electricity, and CO2 in greenhouses

Energy screens: what are they, and what are their advantages/disadvantages?

Act as an extra insulation blanket, trapping a warm layer of air around the crops below and separating them from the colder roof space

• Advantages

  • Reduce energy use and limits peaks

  • Helps with climate control, allows for higher humidity at the start of the crop

• Disadvantages

  • Reduces available light whether the screen is in use or not

  • Increases humidity too much

  • Upfront cost

How are temperature and light interconnected, and how does this impact the quality of crops?

Temperature and light are interconnected, and should balance each other; low light and high temperature will result in poor quality crops

Do crops respond to instantaneous or long-term temperatures, and how might this dictate management decisions?

Crops respond to long-term average temperatures rather than instantaneous values

For a 24-hour day, this can dictate management decisions, because you could keep the windows closed during the day, keeping heat in and CO2 levels higher (this saves energy for heating at night)

Over several days, you could accept one day with a lot of wind and low sun, but compensate for that deficit later