Joost Haenen of Kwekerij Westburg in the Netherlands won a climate scan, made available in 2015 by the Dutch website Kas als Energiebron. In consultation with Westburg management and colleagues, it was decided to use the climate scan for a department that is always the coldest at the site where René Duijf is in charge of cultivation.
This winter Rob Wientjens of Climeco provided the wireless sensors that Westburg employees installed themselves.
Steady climate
René: "The first thing I noticed during the four weeks of measuring was that the climate in the department is pretty steady. This is due, among other things, to the good insulation of the facades with double panels. What was also found to contribute to the uniformity, is the 24-hour use of the horizontal fans at maximum capacity, in both the closed and open position of the energy screen. At a lower power level the inequality immediately increased. A 2-3 cm gap also immediately caused temperature differences."
"Two important points of improvement surfaced after more detailed analysis and a discussion of the results. The control unit turned out to be very erratic. This was easily remedied by adjusting the steering speed of the climate computer. The pressure of the feed pump was also set too high, so that the regulation of the heating valves worked differently than may be expected."
With a little extra care and measurements, it is possible to improve the climate and reduce energy consumption in greenhouses.