Albotherm, a Bristol-based agritech company, is leading a £2 million collaborative project alongside CPI, the James Hutton Institute and commercial grower R&L Holt, after being awarded funding from Defra's Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.
The project will focus on advancing Albotherm's product development alongside scaling its manufacturing capability, refining formulations and production processes to support the commercial rollout of its temperature-responsive additives for greenhouse retrofit coatings. This work will ensure the materials can be produced consistently at scale while delivering the performance required for use across existing glasshouses and polytunnels, enabling passive temperature regulation without energy use. This retrofit solution offers growers a way to cut energy use, reduce emissions, and protect crops from overheating.
Cooling is one of the fastest growing sources of energy consumption in protected cropping. England has over 9,000 hectares of commercial glasshouses and polytunnels, and as UK summers become hotter, growers face rising energy costs, higher emissions and increasing yield losses due to heat stress. Without intervention, greenhouse yields are projected to fall by more than 17% by 2080, while energy use for cooling is expected to rise by 25% or more.
Albotherm's technology addresses this challenge by passively transitioning from clear to reflective white as temperatures rise, reducing heat inside growing spaces, and returning to clear when conditions cool, allowing in maximum light. Previous Innovate UK-supported trials showed Albotherm's technology can increase yields by an average of 34% by preventing crop stress.
© CPI
To date, progress has been shaped by the dual challenge of optimising product performance while developing manufacturing processes capable of supporting large-scale production. This project will accelerate both product optimisation and industrial scale-up in parallel, bridging the gap between successful trials and a robust, market-ready product for widespread use.
As part of the project, Albotherm will collaborate with CPI, leveraging our extensive expertise in scaling sustainable materials and manufacturing processes, to optimise and scale up production of its technology for commercial deployment. Commercial trials will be conducted in partnership with R&L Holt, one of the UK's largest and most established tomato producers, providing a robust real-world testing environment to ensure the solution performs reliably under commercial growing conditions and delivers clear benefits for growers. The James Hutton Institute, an internationally recognised research organisation specialising in environmental sustainability and agri-food systems, will lead a comprehensive lifecycle assessment to quantify carbon savings and evaluate the wider environmental impacts of the technology.
By reducing reliance on energy-intensive cooling systems, the project supports lower-emission farming while improving resilience to extreme heat. It provides a low-disruption route for existing farms to decarbonise, helping protect yields and profitability as the climate changes.
Source: CPI
