Evaluation of thermal behavior and life cycle cost analysis of greenhouses with bio-phase change materials in multiple locations

Abstract

Global warming and energy crisis have forced the communities to pursue sustainable development. Agriculture and food production are one of the fields that needs high amount of energy and produce large amount of emissions each year. In order to create sustainable development in these fields, this paper attempts to add organic fatty acid ester phase change materials to the greenhouses, which are one of the major sources of food production, for the first time. Designbuilder software and Energyplus calculating engine are employed to optimize greenhouses by adding various types of phase change materials to them. As the plan of this research is applicable to any locations, eight different locations which have dry climates are selected for the study. This paper also creates a plan that can be used by developers and researchers to select the appropriate phase change materials for greenhouses according to the climate, location and season. All energy, environmental and economic aspects of the projects are analyzed closely. The results of energy analysis indicated that phase change materials can save up to 14,577 kWh electricity in greenhouses per year. The amount of saved energy is different for each type of phase change materials. Results also showed that bioPCM-Q27 can reduce considerable amount of electricity consumption compared with the other ones. In addition to electricity, adding phase change materials to greenhouses will result a significant drop in their gas consumption during cold seasons. Up to 1348 kWh natural gas energy can be reduced each year by adding phase change materials to the greenhouses. The paper also analyzed the environmental effects of the projects. The largest amount of carbon reduction is equal to 6.2 tons per year and can be even increased to 8.6 tons per year. Financial analysis of the research also made it clear that adding phase change materials to greenhouses can save up 59 % of future costs of the project.