ISHS Acta Horticulturae 801: International Symposium on High Technology for Greenhouse System Management: Greensys2007
THE GESKAS PROJECT, CLOSED GREENHOUSE AS ENERGY SOURCE AND OPTIMAL GROWING ENVIRONMENT |
| Authors: | H. Hoes, J. Desmedt, K. Goen, L. Wittemans |
| Keywords: | tomato, energy savings, full climate control |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.801.166 |
| Abstract:
GESKAS concerns a research project on sustainable, energy saving, integrated and innovative energy technologies in greenhouses with the goal to maximise the crop quality and quantity for each invested energy unit, obtained by closing the greenhouse. Traditionally, greenhouses are opened in order to evacuate heat or moisture. In that case, there is no control on the inside environment. By closing the greenhouse the climate can be controlled perfectly. The greenhouse temperature and moisture content can be brought to their optimal values. Further, the CO2-concentration can be raised for crop fertilisation. Closing the greenhouse implies that heat excesses need to be eliminated, this is very expensive with traditional energy technologies (compression cooling machines). By capturing and storing greenhouse heat, it can be recuperated during the heating season. For this purpose, a large scale heat storage system is necessary. Two small research greenhouses were built at the horticulture research institutes, these units were fully conditioned and operated as small closed greenhouses for tomato growing. Crop behaviour, production rates and energy needs were evaluated in comparison with two small reference open greenhouses (equipped with traditional technologies). An intensive monitoring in the units was of great value for the dynamic analysis of climate, plant and energy. Two models were set up on the climate-plant and the climate-energy interaction. These models were brought together in a TRNSYS simulation environment to an overall simulation tool. This tool allowed fast evaluation and comparison of different energy configurations in order to select the optimal energy concept. The performance of this research work in a practical research environment was nearly impossible due to the high number of interacting parameters, a model based approach was much faster and more efficient. The integrated model allowed to evaluate the effect of different greenhouse climate conditions, crop growing strategies and exploitation versus investment costs. | |
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