Energy-efficient climate control of a greenhouse for increased productivity

About this project

<p><span style="font-size: 9pt"><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF"><span style="color: #0069D2"><span style="font-family: &quot;sans serif&quot;, &quot;serif&quot;">ClimaGreen will investigate by proof-of-concept how the productivity of a greenhouses situated in Romania can be increased several times through optimized climatic indoor conditions, integration of sustainable energy supply by means of a heat pump and seasonal thermal energy storage. The aim is to control and optimise the growing conditions for agricultural products, to minimise the energy usage and reduce climate gas emissions. ClimaGreen will contribute to a more energy-efficient and environment-friendly operation of greenhouses in general, while at the same time enhancing the overall productivity by increased growth of greenhouse plants and vegetables for sites in Romania. An integrated part of the work will be to investigate seasonal thermal energy storage of the summer excess heat.</span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size: 9pt"><span style="color: #0069D2"><span style="font-family: &quot;sans serif&quot;, &quot;serif&quot;"><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF">The research work will focus on identifying the energy savings potential of a greenhouse by replacing the currently used fossil-fuelled gas boiler by heat pumps solutions. The heat pumps can simultaneously provide both heating and cooling to the greenhouse operation. In addition to minimising primary energy demand, an integrated heat pump has therefore the potential for optimising the climatic conditions of the greenhouse by means of temperature and humidity control. Improved climatic conditions for growth of plants and vegetables will contribute to enhanced overall greenhouse efficiency and productivity.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br> <span style="font-size: 9pt"><span style="color: #0069D2"><span style="font-family: &quot;sans serif&quot;, &quot;serif&quot;"><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF">A further part of the project will investigate the applicability of seasonal thermal storage. The excess heat from summertime can be stored in e.g. a borehole in order to heat the greenhouse during winter conditions. Such a system will potentially increase the production period for Romanian greenhouses by several months.</span></span></span></span></p>

Bilateral cooperation results

The established partnership for ClimaGreen concept design, implementation and validation is also important for future initiatives for funding and research projects towards optimised greenhouses and food production both in Romania and on the global scale. The bilateral cooperation was strength with SINTEF, especially, since we published together 4 scientific papers, submitted 2 european project proposals (GrennCarb and TESSA). Last month we involved them in the summer schol organised by our university on MARIGREEN project. We will continue to cooperate in different common fields, like horticulture, food or feed proccesing and storage, energy-efficient and sustainable sistems.

Project partners

• SINTEF Energy Research AS Donor project partner· Norway
• Gether AS Donor project partner· Norway