Introducing Greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse) is a
building where plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings. A miniature greenhouse is known as a cold frame. A greenhouse is a structure with different types of covering materials, such as a glass or plastic roof and frequently glass or plastic walls; it heats up because incoming visible solar radiation (for which the glass is transparent) from the sun is absorbed by plants, soil, and other things inside the building. Air warmed by the heat from hot interior surfaces is retained in the building by the roof and wall. In addition, the warmed structures and plants inside the greenhouse re-radiate some of their thermal energy in the infra-red, to which glass is partly opaque, so some of this energy is also trapped inside the glasshouse. However, this latter process is a minor player compared with the former (convective) process.
Thus, the primary heating mechanism of a greenhouse is convection. This can be demonstrated by opening a small window near the roof of a greenhouse: the temperature drops considerably. This principle is the basis of the autovent automatic cooling system. Thus, the glass used for a greenhouse works as a barrier to air flow, and its effect is to trap energy within the greenhouse. The air that is warmed near the ground is prevented from rising indefinitely and flowing away.
Although there is some heat loss due to thermal conduction through the glass and other building materials, there is a net increase in energy (and therefore temperature) inside the greenhouse.
Greenhouses can be divided into glass greenhouses and plastic greenhouses. Plastics mostly used are PEfilm and multiwall sheet in PC or PMMA. Commercial glass greenhouses are often high tech production facilities for vegetables or flowers. The glass greenhouses are filled with equipment like screening installations, heating, cooling, lighting and may be automatically controlled by a computer.
Uses Greenhouses protect crops from too much heat or cold, shield plants from dust storms and blizzards, and help to keep out pests. Light and temperature control allows greenhouses to turn inarable land into arable land, there by improving food production in marginal environments. Because greenhouses allow certain crops to be grown throughout the year, greenhouses are increasingly important in the food supply of high latitude countries. One of the largest greenhouse complexes in the world is in Almeria, Spain, where greenhouses cover almost 50,000 acres (200 km2). Sometimes called the sea of plastics.
Greenhouses are often used for growing flowers, vegetables, fruits, and tobacco plants. Bumblebees are the pollinators of choice for most greenhouse pollination, although other types of bees have been used, as well as artificial pollination. Hydroponics can be used in greenhouses as well to make the most use of the interior space
Besides tobacco, many vegetables and flowers are grown in greenhouses in late winter and early spring, and then
transplanted outside as the weather warms. Started plants are usually available for gardeners in farmers' markets at transplanting time. Special greenhouse varieties of certain crops such as tomatoes are generally used for commercial production.
The closed environment of a greenhouse has its own unique requirements, compared with outdoor production. Pests and diseases, and extremes of heat and humidity, have to be controlled, and irrigation is necessary to provide water. Significant inputs of heat and light may be required, particularly with winter production of warm-weather vegetables Because the temperature and humidity of greenhouses must be constantly monitored to ensure optimal conditions, a wireless sensor network can be used to gather data remotely. The data is transmitted to a control location and used to control heating, cooling, and irrigation systems.
History The idea of growing plants
in environmentally controlled areas has existed since Roman times. The Roman emperor Tiberius ate a cucumber-like vegetable daily. The Roman gardeners used artificial methods (similar to the greenhouse system) of growing to have it available for his table every day of the year. Cucumbers were planted in wheeled carts which were put in the sun daily, then taken inside to keep them warm at night. The cucumbers were stored under frames or in cucumber houses glazed with either oiled cloth known as "specularia" or with sheets of selenite (a.k.a. lapis specularis), according to the description by Pliny the Elder
The first modern greenhouses were built in Italy in the 13th
back from the tropics.
century[5] to house the exotic plants that explorers brought
They were originally called giardini botanici (botanical gardens). The concept of greenhouses soon spread to the Netherlands and then England, along with the plants. Some of these early attempts required enormous amounts of work to close up at night or to winterize. There were serious problems with providing adequate and balanced heat in these early greenhouses. Today the Netherlands has many of the largest greenhouses in the world, some of them so vast that they are able to produce millions of vegetables every year.
The French botanist Charles Lucien Bonaparte is often credited with building the first practical modern greenhouse in Leiden, Holland to grow medicinal tropical plants. Originally on the estates of the rich, with the growth of the science of botany, greenhouses spread to the universities. The French called their first greenhouses orangeries, since they were used to protect orange trees from freezing. As pineapples became popular pineries, or pineapple pits, were built. Experimentation with the design of greenhouses continued during the Seventeenth Century in Europe as technology produced better glass and construction techniques improved. The greenhouse at the Palace of Versailles was an example of their size and elaborateness; it was more than 500 feet (150 m) long, 42 feet (13 m) wide, and 45 feet (14 m) high. In the nineteenth Century the largest greenhouses were built. The conservatory at Kew Gardens in England is a prime example of the Victorian greenhouse. Although intended for both horticultural and non-horticultural exhibition these included London's Crystal Palace, the New York Crystal Palace and Munich’s Glaspalast. Joseph Paxton, who had experimented with glass and iron in the creation of large greenhouses as the head
gardener at Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, working for the Duke of Devonshire, designed and built the first, London's Crystal Palace. A major architectural achievement in monumental greenhouse building were the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken (1874–1895) for King Leopold II of Belgium.
In Japan, the first greenhouse was built in 1880 by Samuel Cocking, a British merchant who exported herbs. In the Twentieth Century the geodesic dome was added to the many types of greenhouses. A notable example is the Eden Project, in Cornwall.
Greenhouse structures adapted in the 1960s when wider sheets of polyethylene film became widely available. Hoop houses were made by several companies and were also frequently made by the growers themselves. Constructed of aluminium extrusions, special galvanized steel tubing, or even just lengths of steel or PVC water pipe, construction costs were greatly reduced. This meant many more greenhouses on smaller farms and garden centers. Polyethylene film durability increased greatly when more effective inhibitors were developed and added in the 1970s. These UV inhibitors extended the usable life of the film from one or two years up to 3 and eventually 4 or more years. Gutter-connected greenhouses became more prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s. These greenhouses have two or more bays connected by a common wall, or row of support posts. Heating inputs were reduced as the ratio of floor area to roof area was increased substantially. Gutter connected greenhouses are now commonly used both in production and in situations where plants are grown and sold to the public as well. Gutter connected greenhouses are commonly covered with a double layer of polyethylene film with air blown between to provide increased heating efficiencies, or structured polycarbonate materials
History The idea of growing plants
in environmentally controlled areas has existed since Roman times. The Roman emperor Tiberius ate a cucumber-like vegetable daily. The Roman gardeners used artificial methods (similar to the greenhouse system) of growing to have it available for his table every day of the year. Cucumbers were planted in wheeled carts which were put in the sun daily, then taken inside to keep them warm at night. The cucumbers were stored under frames or in cucumber houses glazed with either oiled cloth known as "specularia" or with sheets of selenite (a.k.a. lapis specularis), according to the description by Pliny the Elder
The first modern greenhouses were built in Italy in the 13th
back from the tropics.
century[5] to house the exotic plants that explorers brought
They were originally called giardini botanici (botanical gardens). The concept of greenhouses soon spread to the Netherlands and then England, along with the plants. Some of these early attempts required enormous amounts of work to close up at night or to winterize. There were serious problems with providing adequate and balanced heat in these early greenhouses. Today the Netherlands has many of the largest greenhouses in the world, some of them so vast that they are able to produce millions of vegetables every year.
The French botanist Charles Lucien Bonaparte is often credited with building the first practical modern greenhouse in Leiden, Holland to grow medicinal tropical plants. Originally on the estates of the rich, with the growth of the science of botany, greenhouses spread to the universities. The French called their first greenhouses orangeries, since they were used to protect orange trees from freezing. As pineapples became popular pineries, or pineapple pits, were built. Experimentation with the design of greenhouses continued during the Seventeenth Century in Europe as technology produced better glass and construction techniques improved. The greenhouse at the Palace of Versailles was an example of their size and elaborateness; it was more than 500 feet (150 m) long, 42 feet (13 m) wide, and 45 feet (14 m) high. In the nineteenth Century the largest greenhouses were built. The conservatory at Kew Gardens in England is a prime example of the Victorian greenhouse. Although intended for both horticultural and non-horticultural exhibition these included London's Crystal Palace, the New York Crystal Palace and Munich’s Glaspalast. Joseph Paxton, who had experimented with glass and iron in the creation of large greenhouses as the head
gardener at Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, working for the Duke of Devonshire, designed and built the first, London's Crystal Palace. A major architectural achievement in monumental greenhouse building were the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken (1874–1895) for King Leopold II of Belgium.
In Japan, the first greenhouse was built in 1880 by Samuel Cocking, a British merchant who exported herbs. In the Twentieth Century the geodesic dome was added to the many types of greenhouses. A notable example is the Eden Project, in Cornwall.
Greenhouse structures adapted in the 1960s when wider sheets of polyethylene film became widely available. Hoop houses were made by several companies and were also frequently made by the growers themselves. Constructed of aluminium extrusions, special galvanized steel tubing, or even just lengths of steel or PVC water pipe, construction costs were greatly reduced. This meant many more greenhouses on smaller farms and garden centers. Polyethylene film durability increased greatly when more effective inhibitors were developed and added in the 1970s. These UV inhibitors extended the usable life of the film from one or two years up to 3 and eventually 4 or more years. Gutter-connected greenhouses became more prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s. These greenhouses have two or more bays connected by a common wall, or row of support posts. Heating inputs were reduced as the ratio of floor area to roof area was increased substantially. Gutter connected greenhouses are now commonly used both in production and in situations where plants are grown and sold to the public as well. Gutter connected greenhouses are commonly covered with a double layer of polyethylene film with air blown between to provide increased heating efficiencies, or structured polycarbonate materials
The Netherlands The Netherlands
has some of the largest greenhouses in the world. Such is the scale of food production in the country that in 2000, greenhouses occupied 10,526 hectares, or 0.25% of the total land area of the Netherlands. Greenhouses began to be built in the Westland area of the Netherlands in the mid-nineteenth century. The addition of sand to bogs and clay soil created fertile soil for agriculture, and around 1850, grapes were grown in the first greenhouses, simple glass constructions with one of the sides consisting of solid wall. By the early 20th century, greenhouses began to be constructed of nothing but glass, and they began to be heated. This also allowed for the production of fruits and vegetables that did not ordinarily grow in the area. Today, the Westland and the area around Aalsmeer have the highest concentration of greenhouse agriculture in the world. The Westland produces mostly vegetables, besides plants and flowers; Aalsmeer is noted mainly for the production of flowers and potted plants. Since the twentieth century, the area around Venlo (in Limburg) and
parts of Drenthe have also become important regions for greenhouse agriculture. Since 2000, technical innovations include the "closed greenhouse", a completely closed system allowing the grower complete control over the growing process while using less energy. Floating greenhouses are used in watery areas of the country. The Netherlands has around 9,000 greenhouse enterprises that operate over 10,000 hectares of greenhouses and employ some 150,000 workers, efficiently producing â‚Ź4.5 billion worth of vegetables, fruit, plants, and flowers, some 80% of which is exported.
Greenhouse ventilation Ventilation is one of the most important components in a successful greenhouse. If there is no proper ventilation, greenhouses and their plants become prone to a myriad of problems. Ventilation serves four major purposes within the greenhouse: •
Regulating the temperature
•
Ensurance of plenty of fresh air to photosynthesize
•
Good ventilation prevents pest infestations
•
Encouraging important pollination within the greenhouse
In greenhouses recirculation fans can be used in parallel or series ventilation.
Greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface, energy is transferred to the surface and the lower atmosphere. As a result, the temperature there is higher than it would be if direct heating by solar radiation were the only warming mechanism.
Solar radiation at the high frequencies of visible light passes through the atmosphere to warm the planetary surface, which then emits this energy at the lower frequencies of infrared thermal radiation. Infrared radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases, which in turn re-radiate much of the energy to the surface and lower atmosphere. The mechanism is named after the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse, but the way it retains heat is fundamentally different as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow, isolating the warm air inside the structure so that heat is not lost by convection.
The greenhouse effect was discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824, first reliably experimented on by John Tyndall in 1858, and first reported quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896.
If an ideal thermally conductive blackbody was the same distance from the Sun as the Earth is, it would have a temperature of about 5.3 °C. However, since the Earth reflects about 30% (or 28%) of the incoming sunlight, the planet's effective temperature (the temperature of a blackbody that would emit the same amount of radiation) is about −18 or −19 °C,about 33°C below the actual surface temperature of about 14 °C or 15 °C.The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect.
Global warming, a recent warming of the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere, is believed to be the result of a strengthening of the greenhouse effect mostly due to human-produced increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases.
Rubble-Bubble: A Dome Made Of Recycled Materials
Recycling items is challenging, as materials
used are generally considered useless. However, the shallow thinking about supposed to be discarded materials does not affect Gert Eussen. He was able to reclaimed the used pebbles or bricks in their restructured garden and was able to create a sustainable small dome from it. Aside from the reclaimed pebbles, recycled woods are also
used to create the dome’s door. Though the dome measure short and small and cannot be considered as a real home, the designer thinks that it is highly possible to build houses using the same reclaimed materials. Since pebbles and bricks are normally made of clay, the Rubble Bubble dome surely feel cold inside even when its scorching hot outside.
From Gert Eussen The Rubble-Bubble
is a small cone shaped house, made almost entirely out of concrete rubble. In Holland a lot of concrete tiles, measuring 30 by 30 cm and various thickness, are used for pavements and sidewalks. The tiles are simple, effective in use, and durable. My new house also had a lot of these concrete tiles in the backyard. By remodeling our garden we were stuck with a lot of those concrete tiles, and as always, I found myself interested in this, apparently worthless material. Instead of throwing them away I kept them, somehow knowing I would find good use for the material.
I knew that sometimes the tiles were used to build small garden walls. At first I started pillingthem up in a similar way. After this first try, it was obvious to me to build another small house out of this material. The concrete material seemed to be ideal to build a cone shaped hut. After the first few sketches, in which I determent size I found a location in my garden that was perfect for the build. The tiles are broken in half pieces, revealing on the outside the rough structure of concrete and pebbles. In this way the building has a natural appearance, and gives nature the opportunity to plant some seeds on the structure. As a foundation I dug the first 3 layers of stone on rammed earth, beneath ground level. The tiles are pilled in a small angle so that the water flows from the stones and left over tile cement from an earlier project, was applied between the stones to ensure the structure to be waterproof. Finally the door was made out of reclaimed wood. All in all it took me a long day to build this Rubble-Bubble. We are now in April and the temperature in Holland has reached 25 degrees Celsius. The inside
of the structure stays surprisingly cool, and the ventilation at the top ensures minimum moisture damp inside the structure in de morning. As you noted the entire structure is made out of reclaimed and left-over material. No material was bought specifically for the project. The size, diameter 180 cm, height 205 cm, is not to be called a true house. However I feel confident a bigger variation is very possible. Till that time my children and their friends seem to enjoy their new eco bubble.
White House: Another Repurposed Structure In By The Scottish Architects
Undoubtedly, old structures are built with quality. One cannot easily wreck them out without exerting extra effort. However, why do we need to wreck old structures when we can repurposed them for another use. In this way, we can be of help to the environment, as it surely will minimize landfills. In
addition, repurposing old structure requires lesser materials and can completed at a lesser cost. The White House is a Scottish Ruins that is repurposed and turned into a modern yet sustainable home by the Scottish architecture company WT Architecture. The use of locally sourced materials is another reason why we can consider this house an eco-friendly one.
Interior design
Outdoor