Greenhouse Engineering: New Technologies and Approaches

Firstly, this article discusses the greenhouse engineering situation in three geographic areas which are relevant in the field of protected cultivation: Northern Asia, The Netherlands and the Mediterranean. For each area, the prevailing greenhouse type and equipment is briefly described. Secondly, the main technological constraints are pointed out and finally the research directions are discussed. For all areas under consideration, attempts to design more efficient greenhouse systems are under way. In Northern Asia progress is being made towards the optimisation of greenhouses as a solar collector and to the development of new heating strategies. Important subjects addressed in The Netherlands are energy conservation and the replacement or alleviation of human labour by increasing mechanisation. In the Mediterranean there is growing interest in semiclosed greenhouses with CO2 enrichment and control of excessive humidity. All geographic areas share the need of having an optimised climate control based on the crop response to the greenhouse environment. All areas also share the requirement of being respectful to the environment, therefore future greenhouses are expected to use engineering to produce with minimal or zero emissions. INTRODUCTION Greenhouse engineering is a broad concept that integrates subjects such as energy saving, cooling, automation and structural design. Since the technology and developments related to greenhouse engineering are copious, this paper concentrates on the analysis of three well establish production areas, such as Northern Asia, The Netherlands and the Mediterranean. Their different climatic, sociological and economical features provide a wide diversity of situations and an ample range of engineering problems and related solutions. In spite of the adverse climate conditions (cold winters and hot summers), Northern Asia is the home of the largest area devoted to protected cultivation. Countries such as China, Japan and Korea play a relevant role in greenhouse horticulture and its associated engineering. Perhaps the most advanced and intensive technology can be found in The Netherlands. This is particularly true in topics such as labour automation and climate control. The Mediterranean basin benefits from mild winters and warm summers, thus requires soft, if any, heating technology and relatively cheap passive greenhouses with little climate control. For each geographic area under consideration this article discusses the prevailing production system, the main technical constraints and the main directions followed by the greenhouse engineering research on each location. a [email protected] Proc. IS on High Technology for Greenhouse Systems GreenSys2009