The projects S&T objectives

Short-term project objectives of the GREENERGY project

Review of the situation of European greenhouses in terms of energy consumption in the different climatic areas and definition of technical improvements in the form of low and medium investment measures.
Creation of a user-friendly optimisation guideline to assist greenhouse growers in the improvement of their greenhouse energy systems trough the application of best practise procedures including the technical improvements described above.
Creation of an Energy Auditing and investment decision tool to help the growers determine the profitability of the medium cost technical improvements.
Development of an energy auditing software tool to assess the efficiency of energy use in greenhouses installations by benchmarking the actual energy consumption of the greenhouse against the consumption of an optimised reference greenhouse simulated by the program with real meteorological data.
To propose the European Quality Standards for efficient use of energy in greenhouses based in the auditing tool described above offering European greenhouse growers the possibility to reduce energy consumption in greenhouses measurably up to 20 – 40 %.
Development of training material and transfer of know-how to the IAG partners to enable them to transfer it to their SME associates
Dissemination of the project outcomes among the relevant stakeholders (European activities like EurepGAP or the SSA project CEAF, other associations , greenhouse manufacturers, decision makers, etc.) through the Internet, publications in relevant sectorial journals, presentations in conferences and fairs, etc.

Overall long-term objectives of the GREENERGY project

To improve the energy systems of existing greenhouses in order to achieve a more efficient use of the energy that complies with the environmental legislation in the different European producing areas:

In the North and West of Europe, the energy is mostly required for heating and supplementary lighting provision. An improvement in heating and lighting of the greenhouse systems will lead to an energy cost reduction between 20 – 40 %.
In the South, energy is mainly used for cooling and ventilation, although the lack of efficiency of the methods currently employed, limits their application in the summer time. Supplementary heating is also used in winter time when temperatures go down beyond 12 °C, An Improvement in cooling measures, application of photovoltaics or energy storage concepts may lead to reductions in energy consumption of 25 to 25 %.
In the candidate countries drastic improvements in the greenhouses energy consumption and delivery (heating, cooling and electricity) are required in order to reduce their high energy costs and level of emissions. To give an order of magnitude is difficult at that stage as reliable and comprehensive information are not yet available, but it is assumed that by even simple technical improvements and lost cost measures energy savings of about 30 % could be easily achieved.

To propose, initiate and implement the European Quality Standards for efficient use of energy in greenhouses.
To increase the general knowledge of the SMEs to increase the ability to compete in the European and global market leading to noticeable reductions in greenhouse production costs:

By 20 – 30 % for reasons of reduced energy consumption, more efficient use of fossil energies and increased application renewable energies (biogas, solar energy, etc.)
By additional 10 – 20 % by implementation of standardisation and benchmarking instruments leading to more efficient production structure

To achieve a economically sustainable and environmentally friendly greenhouse horticulture production.