Opportunities and challenges with advanced greenhouse glazing materials

Greenhouse glazing is critical for extending growing seasons and protecting high-value horticultural crops from adverse environmental conditions such as excessive rainfall and low temperatures.
Traditionally, greenhouse glazing was made of glass, but newer photostable plastics such as acrylic, polyethylene, and polycarbonate are now the most widely used greenhouse glazing materials.
The technological advancement of plastic tensile strength and lifespan has also facilitated the incorporation of other types of plastic additives that can increase light scattering (diffuseness), improve insulation, reduce condensation formation, and alter transmission spectrum, which broaden glazing application and utility.
Each greenhouse glazing material will have various combinations of these properties (i.e., different additives) and come with unique opportunities and challenges for a particular crop or location.
Here, we review several of the current and futuristic greenhouse glazing technologies, focusing on their optical properties and how they can influence crop growth as well as the greenhouse environment.
Among particular interest are diffuse, waveband-selective, spectral-shifting, and photovoltaic materials.
These have the potential to advance the greenhouse industry by increasing crop yield and quality and possibly even create dual-purpose structures capable of generating renewable energy.
However, these materials often also have trade-offs such as decreases in photosynthetically active radiation and increased capital cost.

XXXI International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022): International Symposium on Innovative Technologies and Production Strategies for Sustainable Controlled Environment Horticulture

E.J. Stallknecht, E.S. Runkle

agrivoltaics, diffuse glazing, photoselective films, photovoltaics, spectral-shifting films, ultraviolet-transparent films, waveband-selective films

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1377.25