Environmental and economic assessment of a greenhouse waste heat exchange

Authors

R. Andrews, Queen’s University
J. M. Pearce, Queen’s UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2011

Volume

19

Issue

13

Journal

Journal of Cleaner Production

First Page

1446

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.04.016

Last Page

1454

Abstract

As the economic costs of energy and the negative externalities associated with the combustion of fossil fuels threaten the economic viability of greenhouses in northern climates there is a renewed interest in the use of waste heat. This paper presents a technical and economic methodology to determine the viability of establishing waste heat greenhouses using the waste heat from industrial processes in northern climates. A case study is presented of an exchange between a tomato greenhouse and a flat glass manufacturing plant, which found the waste heat system is significantly more economic to operate than a purely natural gas system. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.