Abstract
In order to provide fundamental data for the creation of environmental design criteria for horticultural facilities, we developed a method to easily calculate the seasonal heating load applying heating degree-hour while taking into account heating load reductions due to solar radiation in the daytime, and reviewed through greenhouse heating experiments. Heating experiments and measuring meteorological environments were carried out in three greenhouses located at Buyeo, Cheonan, and Buan, and we derived reduction factors of seasonal heating load according to hours of sunshine. Daily mean hours of sunshine during the experiment period in each of the greenhouse was 4.0 to 8.3 hours, and the reduction factor of seasonal heating load was 0.64 to 0.85, has been shown to decrease linearly with the increase in hours of sunshine. A method to estimate the seasonal heating load for greenhouses was developed using the reduction factor of seasonal heating load derived from the greenhouse heating experiment, including the adjustment factor of seasonal heating load according to hours of sunshine. The developed method was validated through heating experiments in a greenhouse located at Cheonan. Greenhouse seasonal heating loads calculated by the method developed in this study were analyzed to show the estimate error of 1.2 to 5.0%. It showed that the accuracy increased 2.3 times more than when using the heating load reduction factor of 0.75 applied uniformly in previous studies. Thus, the calculation method of seasonal heating load for greenhouses considering hours of sunshine developed in this study could be utilized for energy estimation, management planning, and economic evaluation in greenhouse design.