At the end of 2017, tomato grower Lans had three hectares of greenhouse in Rilland-Bath equipped with the ClimaLED3 system from Qwestland. And with success: at the Horticontact the tomato can be tasted in the Demo nursery-street.
Energy and cost saving
"The ClimaLED3 is an efficient and production increasing system that consists of a dimmable LED light source and a separate controllable fan", the developers explain. This way, The lamps are being cooled and the heat can be used in the crop. "Thanks to the efficient lighting and climate system, the crop receives exactly what it needs and production increases significantly. Because of the vertical ventilation a more uniform climate is formed in the greenhouse and that decreases the chance of fungi and diseases. The circulated heat penetrates deep into the crop, reducing the energy requirement to heat the greenhouses by 10 to 50%."
Energy saving
And it has paid off for Lans, the tomato grower who considers energy saving to be of paramount importance. Leo van der Lans of Tomato Nursery Lans: "LED lighting should in any case provide us with energy savings in both electricity and heat. One also hopes for an increase in production, but this is primarily about energy saving."
According to Qwestland, that energy saving will reach up to 40% and at the same time production will be increased considerably. "The light interception is very low and thanks to the daylight spectrum, the growth is better. The climate can be controlled more and more directly and thus leads to a reduction of the fungal and disease susceptibility."
HortiContact
The system, which came about through insights from physics, will be shown to the world for the second time on 20, 21 and 22 February during the HortiContact fair at stand number 393 in Demo nursery-street. Also the tomatoes grown under 100% LED can be tasted at the stand.