Seminar: "Greenhouse building materials influence lifetime crop yields and environmental impacts", by Joan Muñoz

Joan Muñoz Liesa, researcher from the group Sostenipra, will be giving the webinar "Greenhouse building materials influence lifetime crop yields and environmental impacts" organised by Resources, Conservation & Recycling

Seminar: "Greenhouse building materials influence lifetime crop yields and environmental impacts"

Speaker: Joan Muñoz Liesa, ICTA-UAB researcher
 

Data: Thursday, May 18th 2023
Time:07:00 p.m.
Venue: online - registration here
 

Buildings, including greenhouses, urgently need a plan to decarbonize. Greenhouse covering materials and their lifetime performance play a fundamental role in crop productivity rates. Their lifetime transmissivity rates greatly determine greenhouse thermal and solar energy gains, and thus and plant resource use-efficiency. This study uses an integrated and life-cycle approach to assess the environmental performance of different covering materials on a rooftop greenhouse (RTG). We compared two types of polycarbonate, glass, and ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) films using experimental and modeling data to quantify solar and tomato productivity rates. We found that a 4-mm anti-reflective glass and a 60-μm ETFE film improved the environmental performance of a polycarbonate-rooftop greenhouse by increasing the average lifetime energy yields up to 20.5% and tomato yields up to 46.6%. These materials also resulted in a significant reduction of environmental impacts (up to 41.7%). The results provide insights into improving the environmental sustainability of urban agriculture.