Here is the photovoltaic greenhouse which reduces the use of energy by 57% and that of water by 29%.
A research group of Murdoch University In Australia he published a study on Cleaner Engineering and Technology, in which it demonstrates the advantages of a greenhouse with photovoltaic windows on an experimental level
The challenges of agriculture
Agriculture, necessary for the existence of humanity, places environmental challenges globally: it represents up to 85% of human water consumption, emits about 25% of global greenhouse gases, transforms prairies and forests into land for crops and, at the same time, has lost more than a third of the cultivable land existing in recent decades. The effects of climate change, in fact, threaten sustainable agricultural production in conventional cultivation systems.
High -tech greenhouse agriculture has been gaining considerable attention and has been expanding for some years, since it increases the efficiency of the use of soil, it protects crops from extreme weather events, reduces water consumption and extends growth seasons. However, it requires significant energy consumption. For example, it is estimated that about 1.5% of total energy consumption in Europe is due to the heating and cooling of commercial greenhouses.
The photovoltaic greenhouse
Australian researchers designed and built a greenhouse with high transparency photovoltaic windows, used as components mounted on the roof and walls, demonstrating the great potential of this technology in improving the sustainability of greenhouse cultivation.
Tomatoes, snow peas, mustard, spinach, dwarf beans, peppers and lettuce prosper quietly in the photovoltaic greenhouse as much as in the traditional greenhouses, as reported by the study entitled “Transparent photovoltaic solar windows offer strong potential for self -establishable food production in far -sighted architecture architecture.”
Also, they let Murdoch’s university know:
Due to a limitation in experimental design, solar windows have not been completely installed on the greenhouse, which led to a underestimation of potential energy saving. A computational model has shown that a completely glazed sun greenhouse could compensate up to 100% of energy consumption in various locations in the world, using adaptable and efficient temperature control techniques, potentially making it possible to cultivate in self -sufficient greenhouse on a global scale.
Technological improvements
Further improvements for the greenhouse are also expected by refining the selective transmittance, i.e. the ability of the glass to transmit only certain wavelengths of the light, blocking or reflecting the others to improve the growth of crops in the environment of the Solar greenhouse.
Solar greenhouse technology represents a significant opportunity to perform significant progress towards the goal of clear zero emissions in global food systems by 2050.
