How to optimize your greenhouse energy strategy?
Step 1: Getting your house in order
Priva specialists work according to a proven three-step plan. The first step is getting your house in order: a thorough check of all hardware and software on site. Are all devices and installations properly maintained? Are the settings and data used for control strategies correct? Is the software up to date?
Jasperse explains: “During this check, we also review background settings that were configured at dealer level, such as company-specific installation data. These are often not visible to the grower, but we can access them. When we review them together, we sometimes find incorrect or outdated information that slightly hinders optimal climate control or energy management. Once everything is correctly defined and set, we often see that the climate becomes more stablewith fewer fluctuations. And a stable climate is always more energy-efficient.”
Step 2: Evaluating your climate and crop strategy
The second step involves reviewing the crop and climate strategy. “How are you growing today, and why? What are your crop goals, which greenhouse climate fits those goals, and how do you achieve it? What do the various graphs tell you?” summarizes Jasperse.
“It can be very insightful to analyze crop and climate data together, along with gas, electricity, and CO₂ consumption. It’s crucial that the grower understands the energetic and financial implications of their strategy. Once those links are clear, it’s much easier to take the next step: identifying, calculating, and implementing improvement points and additional energy-saving options.”
The experts note many possibilities: growing slightly cooler, dimming lighting, lowering minimum pipe temperature and watering more efficiently (reducing evaporation and moisture discharge while retaining heat and CO₂). In addition, the strategic use of screens deserves special attention, as they are an important tool for energy saving in greenhouses by limiting heat loss and improving climate control efficiency.
Step 3: Optimizing your strategy
When discussing strategy adjustments with the grower or crop manager, Priva consultants prefer to involve the external crop advisor. “This person plays a key role as a sounding board,” Jasperse explains. “If we propose improvements that the grower agrees with, but the advisor presents a different view a few days later, it complicates things. Reaching consensus on the strategy, tools, and setpoints is essential to implement improvements consistently. Everything is interconnected, deviating from the plan in one area can have wide-ranging effects.”
Measuring box above the screen
In principle, specialists first explore options that don’t require new investments. However, when Jasperse notices there’s no measuring box above the screen, that’s one of his first recommendations. “It’s inexpensive and really shouldn’t be missing,” he says. “It lets you see the real impact of the morning sun on greenhouse temperature. An external solar sensor can lead to opening the screen too early, which can waste a lot of heat on cold, clear mornings.”
He continues: “When new technical options are added, such as air-mixing systems that bring drier air from above the screen into the greenhouse, we stay involved for a while. That guidance helps ensure correct usage and coordination with other tools. Often, these situations require specific control settings across the entire climate management system. This is especially true when switching from SON-T or hybrid lighting to full LED, which has a huge impact on the greenhouse climate.”
“With the knowledge and experience we’ve gained from many customers and crops over the years, we can help growers develop efficient, stable, and well-founded strategies that deliver better results,” Jasperse concludes. “That’s not only financially rewarding, it also brings peace of mind and confidence. And that may be even more valuable.”
