Estidamah Presents its Evaluation of Water Saving Technologies in the GreenSys 2019 International Symposium on Advanced Technologies and Management for Innovative Greenhouses

^{Angers, France, 16 - 20 June 2019}

The National Research and Development Center for Sustainable Agriculture “Estidamah” has presented its evaluation of water-saving technologies in the GreenSys 2019 International Symposium on Advanced Technologies and Management for Innovative Greenhouses held in Angers, France, from 16 to 20 June 2019.

Conducted in a desert environment, in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), At the Estidamah research center in Riyadh, water-saving technologies for protected horticulture are evaluated in harsh climatic conditions. Different levels of technology, low, mid and high tech are evaluated on water use, energy consumption and production. The low-tech greenhouse is a plastic tunnel greenhouse cooled using a pad and fan system. This type of greenhouse serves as the Saoudi reference for year-round vegetable production. The mid-tech greenhouse has a glass covering and is also cooled using the pad and fan system. Here the ventilation rate can be accurately controlled by frequency-controlled fans. Finally, the high-tech greenhouse is considered which is a closed greenhouse. The three types of greenhouses were compared in terms of productivity and water use; with a special focus on water use for cooling. According to the findings, the water use for cooling in the Mid tech greenhouse is 30% less than what is used in the low-tech greenhouses. The water-saving in the high tech is more than 95%.

On the other hand, the extracted air temperature had a primary influence on water use for cooling. As a result of increasing the extracted air temperature with 4 K, about 27% saving in water use for cooling was achieved. As well, a 5 % higher cooling efficiency of the pad wall could yield an extra 12% water saving for evaporative cooling.

The event brought together researchers, technicians and other professionals who presented their research innovations in greenhouse horticulture. They also shared their ideas and knowledge and discussed state-of-the-art and future perspectives for the sheltered crop production sector.

 The five-day event elaborated on key topics, including – but not limited to – greenhouse design, climate and micro-climate control and modelling, water management, crop modelling and Computational Fluid Dynamics.