ISHS Acta Horticulturae 148: III International Symposium on Energy in Protected Cultivation
A DOUBLE-PLASTIC GREENHOUSE WITH A POLYSTYRENE-PELLET ENERGY SCREEN AND FLOOR HEATING FOR WINTER TOMATO PRODUCTION* |
| Authors: | D.L. Elwell, T.H. Short, R.P. Fynn |
| Abstract:
A greenhouse energy conservation study that combined nighttime, polystyrene-pellet insulation, and floor heating was undertaken. A greenhouse tomato crop was grown in peat-vermiculite bags on a sand floor to insure that the results applied to actual operating conditions. Heat was delivered to a moist sand floor by 30–40°C water circulating through buried polyethylene pipe. Up to 34 percent of the maximum, uninsulated, heat requirement of the double-plastic greenhouse was supplied through the floor. A 5.6 m x 29.3 m greenhouse roof was filled with a 100–150 mm thick layer of polystyrene pellets in about 45 minutes, and emptied in about 35 minutes. The pellet insulation reduced the nighttime heat requirements by 90 percent and made it possible for the soil heating to supply the entire greenhouse heat load. | |
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