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Co-simulating a greenhouse in a building to quantify co-benefits of different coupled configurations

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Abstract

Recent findings suggest that rooftop greenhouses could be more efficient when combined with waste streams in buildings, but there is a gap in quantification of the combined performance of building integrated greenhouses. This paper addresses this deficit for school buildings in London, UK, where urban agriculture is of increasing interest. A building energy simulation (BES) of an archetype school building is developed in EnergyPlus and co-simulated with a validated greenhouse energy simulator (GES). The performance of different greenhouse-building coupling configurations is evaluated to estimate the potential for crop growth, heat recovery and reduction in ventilation demand, through a sensitivity analysis and parametric study. Our results show that a 250m2 greenhouse on the top floor of the school could produce 6t lettuce with half the energy demand of the same standalone greenhouse. Trade-offs across increase in humidity, yields, and energy efficiency indicate the importance of modelling to ensure optimal designs.

Description

Keywords

Co-simulation, building integrated agriculture, greenhouse modelling, urban agriculture

Journal Title

Journal of Building Performance Simulation

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1940-1493
1940-1507

Volume Title

14

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
EPSRC (1650415)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L016095/1)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/F034350/1)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/N021614/1)
Technology Strategy Board (920035)
EPSRC (via Alan Turing Institute) (EP/T001569/1)