Technology and Studies for Greenhouse Cooling

Greenhouse technology is an efficient and viable option, especially for the sustainable crop production in the regions of adverse climatic conditions. High summer temperature is one of the worst effects on greenhouse crop production throughout the year. The main purpose of this paper is to present some technologies and studies for greenhouse cooling in summer. In the paper, some applicable and practical cooling technologies have been discussed. The choice of efficient cooling method depends on many aspects, such as local climate, agronomic condition, design and covering materials. To achieve desirable benefits, the combination of different cooling methods is necessarily used. Analysis of earlier studies revealed that a naturally ventilated greenhouse with larger ventilation areas (15% - 30%), provided at the ridge and side covered with insect-proof nets of 20 - 40 mesh size with covering material properties of NIR (near infrared radiation) reflection during the day and FIR (far infrared radiation) reflection during night was suitable for greenhouse production throughout year in some special regions. Evaporation cooling is the most effective cooling method for controlling the temperature and humidity inside a greenhouse. However, its suitability is restricted to the respective region and climate when the humidity level is high. The entry of unwanted radiation or light can be controlled by the use of shading. Researches show that shade net application with different perforated mesh size and their evaluation with respect to local climate and region are necessary to get cooling benefits in summer.