Special Issue "Sustainable Greenhouse Production strategies to Mitigate Product Carbon Footprint"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Georgios Ntinas
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hellenic Agricultural Organization (ELGO-DIMITRA), Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Lab of Renewable Energy Sources in Protected Cultivation, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: renewable energy sources; sustainable greenhouses; plant growth rooms; energy saving strategies; microclimate control; hydroponics; high added-value products; environmental impact; product carbon footprint; energy use efficiency; water-use efficiency
Dr. Dennis Dannehl
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division Biosystems Engineering, Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Interests: ccontrolled environment horticulture; horticultural engineering; monitoring and evaluation of the vegetative and reproductive growth of crops; influence of pre- and post-harvest conditions on fruit quality; stress physiology; chemical analysis as a tool of fruit quality management; water and energy management in greenhouses depending on plant responses; material cycles in greenhouses; influence of different supplementary light systems on the phenotype of different plants

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food production and consumption has a significant environmental impact and the current consensus is that we must move towards more sustainable practices. In this context, greenhouse gas emissions associated with greenhouse production strategies is a central issue in many countries. It is also necessary to adopt strategies capable of achieving the objectives set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals such as affordable and clean energy, climate action or the extinction of hunger and poverty.

The increase of resource use efficiency (IRUE) in terms of energy, water, nutrients and growing media use provides strategies to maximize production while taking measures against climate change. IRUE can provide technological solutions in greenhouses that constitute an alternative for a world that is increasingly under stress through population growth, urbanization, energy and water shortages, land and soil degradation, environmental pollution, and climate change. Renewable Energy Sources (RES) fit in this context, proving to be a useful tool for sustainable greenhouses. In addition, there is consumer concern about the negative environmental impact and the production of high-quality products through greenhouse production, which can be countered by more environmentally friendly production strategies. The carbon footprint regarding the production of plant products is an effective tool to compare the environmentally friendly production of plant goods and to strengthen the environmentally conscious purchasing tendencies of the consumer.

Currently, the knowledge concerning utilization of sustainable greenhouse production strategies and product carbon footprint is increasing. Still, many key points must be studied in depth regarding the sustainable use and reuse of energy, water, nutrients and growing media under different greenhouse types and locations around the world. To date, limited reports exist on intensive, year-round operating greenhouses combined with energy and water recovery, nutrient conservation, the energy productivity and sustainability of different RES types and systems, and the use of environmentally friendly growing media in hydroponics. In this context, the production of the materials for the greenhouse infrastructure, the production of nutrients and growing media, as well as the energy demand of greenhouses in general and of artificial lighting and RES, can cause considerable emissions. Consequently, there is an urgent need to provide engineering solutions, tools, and technologies that support the strategic design, tactical planning, and operational control of greenhouses, as well as their sustainability.

Based on these challenges, this Special Issue is welcoming original research papers, short communications, and review articles that provide insight into all topics related to sustainable greenhouse production strategies and their environmental impact in terms of greenhouse cultivation with horticultural and medicinal plants systems. The focus is on the environmental, technological, agronomical, and nutritional issues involved in meeting the high demands of consumers for fresh food characterized by high yield, high quality, and low carbon footprint. Some perspectives on economic sustainability are also encouraged.

Dr. Georgios Ntinas
Dr. Dennis Dannehl
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • renewable energy
  • net-zero energy greenhouses
  • smart greenhouses
  • environmental impact
  • sustainable greenhouse production
  • life cycle assessment (LCA)
  • greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)
  • resource use efficiency (RUE)
  • energy use efficiency (EUE)
  • water use efficiency (WUE)
  • nutrient use efficiency (NUE)
  • sustainable growing media
  • sustainable artificial lighting
  • CO2-footprint (CF)
  • PV solar panels
  • hybrid and organic PVs
  • semitransparent photovoltaic films
  • dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC)
  • geothermal energy
  • biomass energy
  • net metering (virtual)
  • indoor farming
  • plant factories
  • microgreens
  • edible flowers

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
LED versus HPS Lighting: Effects on Water and Energy Consumption and Yield Quality in Lettuce Greenhouse Production
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8651; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158651 - 03 Aug 2021
Viewed by 553
Abstract
High-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting is increasingly replaced by LED lighting in lettuce greenhouse cultivation. In contrast to HPS lighting, LEDs do not heat radiation. Therefore, the leaf temperature is significantly lower under LEDs. This raises the question of whether LED lighting has a [...] Read more.
High-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting is increasingly replaced by LED lighting in lettuce greenhouse cultivation. In contrast to HPS lighting, LEDs do not heat radiation. Therefore, the leaf temperature is significantly lower under LEDs. This raises the question of whether LED lighting has a positive impact on the reduction in water consumption during lettuce production. In this paper, we investigated this question and found that the water consumption of lettuce produced under LEDs was significantly lower (−15%) than under HPS without loss of yield. We also found that supplementary lighting increases the concentrations of caffeoylquinic acid, dicaffeoyltartaric acid, dicaffeoylquinic acid and that of the total phenolic compounds in lettuce leaves by 61%, 39%, 163% and 38%, respectively. Only the LED fixture was also efficient enough to increase the concentration of caffeoyltartaric acid (+24%). Most of the phenolic compounds showed a very strong positive correlation with the chlorophyll concentration in lettuce, which predominated in the leaves exposed to the LED lighting. Based on these facts, we conclude that by optimizing the light composition, more sustainable plant production, higher concentrations of chlorophyll and some phenolic compounds are possible. Full article
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Article
Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling of the Microclimate within the Boundary Layer of Leaves Leading to Improved Pest Control Management and Low-Input Greenhouse
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8310; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158310 - 26 Jul 2021
Viewed by 318
Abstract
This work aims at using the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) approach to study the distributed microclimate in the leaf boundary layer of greenhouse crops. Understanding the interactions in this microclimate of this natural habitat of plant pests (i.e., boundary layer of leaves), is [...] Read more.
This work aims at using the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) approach to study the distributed microclimate in the leaf boundary layer of greenhouse crops. Understanding the interactions in this microclimate of this natural habitat of plant pests (i.e., boundary layer of leaves), is a prerequisite for their control through targeted climate management for sustainable greenhouse production. The temperature and humidity simulations, inside the greenhouse, were performed using CFD code which has been adapted to simulate the plant activity within each mesh in the crop canopy. The air temperature and air humidity profiles within the boundary layer of leaves were deduced from the local surrounding climate parameters, based on an analytical approach, encapsulated in a Used Defined Function (UDF), and dynamically linked to the CFD solver, a work that forms an innovative and original task. Thus, this model represents a new approach to investigate the microclimate in the boundary layer of leaves under greenhouses, which resolves the issue of the inaccessibility of this area by the conventionnel measurement tools. The findings clearly showed that (i) contrarily to what might be expected, the microclimate parameters within the boundary layer of leaves are different from the surrounding climate in the greenhouse. This is particularly visible during photoperiods when the plant’s transpiration activity is at its maximum and that (ii) the climatic parameters in the leaf boundary layer are more coupled with leaf surfaces than with those of greenhouse air. These results can help developing localized intervention strategies on the microclimate within boundary layer of plant leaves, leading to improved and sustainable pest control management. The developed climatic strategies will make it possible to optimize resources use efficiency. Full article
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Article
Contribution to the Sustainability of Agricultural Production in Greenhouses Built on Slope Soils: A Numerical Study of the Microclimatic Behavior of a Typical Colombian Structure
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4748; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094748 - 23 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 732
Abstract
The use of covered structures is an alternative increasingly used by farmers to increase crop yields per unit area compared to open field production. In Latin American countries such as Colombia, productive areas are located in with predominantly hillside soil conditions. In the [...] Read more.
The use of covered structures is an alternative increasingly used by farmers to increase crop yields per unit area compared to open field production. In Latin American countries such as Colombia, productive areas are located in with predominantly hillside soil conditions. In the last two decades, farmers have introduced cover structures adapted to these soil conditions, structures for which the behavior of factors that directly affect plant growth and development, such as microclimate, are still unknown. Therefore, in this research work, a CFD-3D model successfully validated with experimental data of temperature and air velocity was implemented. The numerical model was used to determine the behavior of air flow patterns and temperature distribution inside a Colombian passive greenhouse during daytime hours. The results showed that the slope of the terrain affects the behavior of the air flow patterns, generating thermal gradients inside the greenhouse with values between 1.26 and 16.93 °C for the hours evaluated. It was also found that the highest indoor temperature values at the same time were located in the highest region of the terrain. Based on the results of this study, future researches on how to optimize the microclimatic conditions of this type of sustainable productive system can be carried out. Full article
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