Energy-efficient building envelopes for commercial greenhouse applications for vegetable production in Northern Canada

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Food security and affordability are a prolonged problem in northern and remote communities who are heavily dependent on the South for food. Community gardens and greenhouses are seen as viable and sustainable solutions to minimize the reliance on costly foods imported from the South. Energy consumption, moisture control, and ventilation of the greenhouse are big problems. The temperature difference between outdoors and indoors of a greenhouse could be as high as 80°C. Extensive indoor moisture and its exhaust make the issues very complicated. Building envelope plays a vital role in controlling the temperature and humidity of a greenhouse. The OCN Smart Farm, a Manitoba-based Company, plans to adopt and commercialize a South Korean technology to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruit in shipping containers. The technology was initially developed and commercialized by Korea Agriculture System & Technology (KAST) Engineering Co. Ltd. While the OCN Smart Farm is 900 square feet of growing capacity (4 lanes x 4 layers each), the OCN Smart Farm will utilize shipping containers to grow crops. The container is designed for a South Asia region, which has an entirely different climate. The objective of this project is to adopt the KAST technology for the Canadian environment. The adaptation of the KAST technology is through modification and adjustment of the building envelope. Three building envelope systems will be developed in this project. These building envelope systems will be tested in dual-environmental chambers, while temperature humidity and heat flux sensors are installed in the systems. The sensors measure the variables as the chambers are operating. Based on the findings of these tests in a controlled environment, the optimum building envelope system will be selected for prototyping and field-testing in extreme climatic conditions.