How to make your greenhouse greener this summer

If you're managing a greenhouse facility and use lighting, you'll be very familiar with energy costs - especially after such a long winter. You might also be aware that LED horticultural lighting has become a much more feasible option in the last couple of years, but maybe you're not quite ready to make the leap just yet.

And if you're managing a refrigerated warehouse, you'll no doubt be wanting to minimize your cooling costs over the summer, especially if B.C. faces another heat dome.

BC Hydro engineer David Rogers, a world expert in hydroponics with horticultural lighting experience, has got five tips to help you save.

1. Avoid unnecessary demand charges

Greenhouses don't require lighting over the summer, so make sure that your lighting is always off during this period. While this sounds super obvious, there's more to it than you might expect.

That's because if someone turns your greenhouse lighting system on by accident - or for just a very short period - it'll impact your demand charges and you'll be charged the full electrical demand rate as if you'd left the lights on for the whole month.

2. Check your lighting controls

With your lighting off during the summer, you've got the perfect opportunity to see if you can improve your lighting controls system. Are there ways you might optimize your lighting controls to reduce your energy costs while improving your crop production and quality?

3. Clean or replace your HPS reflectors

Did you know that every 1% of light loss can reduce crop production by 1%? So getting your HPS reflectors replaced or cleaned in spring or early summer is critical.

While your lights might look perfectly bright, HPS reflectors can account for up to 15% loss in luminaire light output. Cleaning them may increase HPS light output by about 5-6%, which can also help to reduce lighting costs and improve crop production.

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Photo created by senivpetro - www.freepik.com

Source: BC Hydro