Articles
REGIONAL ADVANTAGES OF SOLANACEA PRODUCTION IN CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENTS
The actual advantages are more likely related to the Mediterranean region having optimum growing temperatures in the winter and climatic stability throughout the year.
The night ambient temperature in the Mediterranean region tends to be close to 15°C with very little variation due to the sea climate.
A typical day ambient temperature of 20°C results in 25°C or higher temperatures in Mediterranean greenhouses due to solar heating.
This allows for solanacea production in unheated greenhouses in the Mediterranean region.
Northern Europe also has a sea climate.
Northern European growers, however, burn fuel to generate CO2 and to raise the growing temperature up to the optimum.
An Ohio, USA, grower must deal with much more climatic variation due to the land based climate.
Ohio growers will actually use about 20 percent more fossil fuel than Dutch growers for the same glasshouse even though they are at a much lower latitude.
Most locations have a technical solution for controlling temperatures with much less fossil fuel than currently used.
A unique possibility for highly variable climates may be to use polystyrene pellets for night insulation and daytime shading.