Objective
This is a project consisting of 45 bioclimatic solar greenhouses of approximately 100 m2 each, built on terraced land plots on the Cevennes slopes south of the Massif Central. The aim is to demonstrate the low cost and high yield characteristics of nursery plant growing in solar terraced greenhouses, and hence encourage the local agricultural population to apply ths system more generally, and to revitalize existing terraced land which has been or would otherwise be abandoned.
The idea is to utilise the solar heat storage capacity of the south-facing dry stone walls erected in the past to retain the soil of terraced cultures on the lower slopes of the mountainous regions south of the Massif Central.
To do this, it is proposed to build small single bay solar greenhouses against the terrace walls. It is to be noted that most of these terraces are in a state of abandon which means that crumbled walls would need to be restored and land surfaces regraded. Revitalising this waste land would help stop landscape degradation, reduce risks of brush fire and provide local growers with an economical means of upgrading land which would otherwise remain fallow.
During this pilot scheme which covers a 38 months period, it is proposed to erect 45 single bay hot houses, each of 100 m2 ground surface area, making a total of 4500 m2 equally divided among the 3 locations concerned.
Two types of terrace-greenhouses are envisaged :
- Greenhouse type 1, which is adaptable toterrace walls of 1.5 to 2.0 m in height, and
- Greenhouse type 2, which adapts to terrace walls of 3 m and above.
Both types feature : transparent roof (glass + Bullpack material for type 1, corrugated polycarbonate for type 2); insulated foundations; black painted walls; good weather-tightness; south facing orientation; lock-chamber entrance. Another greenhouse of similar size but of standard design (i.e. "Chapel" shaped) will be erected on one of the selected sites for the purpose of comparing results and highlighting the advantages gained by using a south-facing terrace wall as the northern supporting side of the terrace greenhouse.
The work involved in the construction of the greenhouse and soil cultivation is planned to be carried out by local farmers and land owners interested in the project, with the help of locally recruited part-time workers.
General climatic conditions in the region where the greenhouses are located will necessitate the provision of auxiliary heating equipment, especially at night during the winter months.
However, comparing the overall energy requirements of the traditional "Chapel"-type greenhouse with those of a Terrace-Greenhouse, the figures are clearly in favour of the latter; annual energy savings of auxiliarly energy equivalent to between 1.21 and 2.96 Tep per 100 m2 greenhouse or 56 to 133 Tep/year for the overall 4500 m2 of terrace-greenhouses planned for in this project are expected, depending on the minimum temperature required within the greenhouse.
The payback time based purely on energy savings is calculated at 4.9 years.
The terrace-greenhouses are intended for use as vegetable nurseries and for growing potted plants. This type of nursery will yield 3 crops annualy by periodic rotation, i.e. some 60,000 seedlings overall. The sale of only 80% of these will more than cover running costs and will largely contribute to the return on investments, by reducing the payback time to between 18 and 29 months.
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Programme(s)
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Coordinator
34190 GANGES
France
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