Amaryllis cultivation requires both heat and cooling. At the Dutch Kwekerij Kamervoort the heat is provided by a gas boiler with a condenser. The condenser extracts all heat from the boiler’s combustion gases. In the summer cooling is very efficiently handled using a heat pump. This is how Steef Gerichhausen of Kwekerij Kamervoort has been able to optimize his greenhouse climate.
Still Gerichhausen wasn’t satisfied with his already low energy consumption. He wanted his climate control to better adapt to quick changes in the weather conditions outside his greenhouse. To achieve this a climate station had to be placed on top of his greenhouse. With the support of TRINTECH, this weather station was installed in combination with a state of the art climate computer. Through a clever scheme this computer can provide the same greenhouse climate, but with lower energy consumption.
According to Gerichhausen, the most important steps have now been set to grow his amaryllises with much less energy. The investments of the past two years have reduced his energy consumption by 30-40% and his natural gas consumption by 20-25%. Gerichhausen’s side note: "It will take longer to earn this investment back because of the low energy prices last year. In the future I could become even more sustainable by using Heat and Cold Storage. But financially that’s currently not an option. My long term vision is to further reduce energy costs. Sustainable energy is certainly going to help with that."