Santamouris M., Argiriou A., Vallindras M. Design and operation of a low energy consumption passive solar agricultural greenhouse (Конструкция и работа пассивной солнечной теплицы с низким потреблением тепла)

Solar Energy, 1994, V. 52(5), З. 371-378. The design, construction, and operation of a prototype 1000 m2 passive solar agricultural greenhouse are described. The greenhouse has been designed in order to reduce heat losses and increase useful solar gains on a daily and seasonal basis. The passive elements of the greenhouse are a mass storage wall located on the north side and a network of earth-to-air heat exchangers buried in the greenhouse. Monitoring of the greenhouse for a 2-year period has shown that the passive systems have offered energy equal to 35% of the heating requirements of an identical conventional greenhouse. Also, the cooling potential of the earth-to-air heat exchangers has been found to be very important. This project is a Solar Demonstration Programme of the European Communities.