Written by Al Zylstra

Sustainable, Green, Energy Saving, High Efficiency…all terms that grab our attention these days, as they should.  Greenhouse operators need to keep up on investments in efficiency as energy costs rise, just to keep those costs in line with revenues. But just like the last energy price run-up, and the ones before that, the efficiencies and resulting savings claims often invite further scrutiny, and they should. Most efficiency related investments still have compelling merit even with actual un-inflated efficiency claims.  It will pay to sift through those claims, carefully, you will save money either way.

So, if you invest in a greenhouse curtain system that “saves 40%”, and that new fangled heat mat that “uses 30% less energy”, and it is powered by a new “99.8% efficient” boiler, and the newest greenhouse covering that “cuts heat loss by 25%”, does that mean your greenhouse eventually will no longer need heat?  Or, maybe the gas company will send you a check every month…hey, I like that deal, get me two!

One of my favorites is the “99.8% efficient” boiler for heating. Does it really exist?  Well, sort of. A boiler that can operate at 99.8% efficiency really exists, it just doesn’t happen to be 99.8% efficient when used to heat your greenhouse. Then it is more like 89 to 94% efficient, depending on the type of heat delivery.  That’s still good, and may be worth the investment, just not as dazzling.  So, you gotta ask the question: “will it be that efficient in my facility, in this application and these temperatures?”

And, be cautious of claims about how bad your existing equipment may be. I recently heard from a grower that was told his boiler “lost 3-5% efficiency, every year”.  My oh my, that would be very bad!  Maybe in one year, if it isn’t maintained properly, but not every year.  But it sure made a new boiler sound better.

So, don’t be shy about asking those hard questions of the person working hard to compel you to invest in a more efficient product or system.  They are probably telling the truth, just make sure you get the facts that apply to your facility and your application.  Facts often are at least as good as fiction.

Written by Jim Rearden   

There’s so much hype about fuel “alternatives” lately. Walking around Ohio, there were probably 10 booths selling all sorts of solutions to have an “alternative” to the gas man or the oil man. One booth even showed a machine that you could manufacture your own dense little fuel pellets from local bio-mass.

Kind of reminds me of the ’80s…without as many mullets.

What happened back then might be happening again though. Of all the growers that put in alternative ways to heat their greenhouses, most all of them abandoned them after “traditional” fuel prices fluttered back to earth. I think, maybe, that these growers realized that they needed to spend their time growing a quality plant or flower, and the pay for a default title like “alternative fuel manager” was not so rewarding.

Do you really feel like you want to add staff to push around giant stacks of wood chips?  Do you think building a facility to house “urban waste” makes sense? What if your local community decides that they don’t really like the fly-ash you are all of the sudden generating?  What about the space for that giant water tank you need to have? How about the maintenance for all this stuff?  What about the trucks that are going to be lining up on your driveway delivering all kinds of stuff to burn?

TrueLeaf Technologies is no stranger to any of this. We were there last time…and I guess it means I’m getting old because I remember that what some growers forgot about then was the importance of using the heat source they already had as efficiently as possible. This might mean that you could be better off changing the way you deliver and control your heat. It might mean using traditional fuel sources through a new “condensing” boiler.

I think the word “sustainable” needs to be used to describe solutions that can be sustained for a long economic and environmental life… not as a knee-jerk, green-washed investment of distraction in something out of your core business.  What I’m saying is that history is our greatest teacher, so give yourself a reality check before you decide you want to spend time driving around looking for old shipping pallets to burn. You might want to spend that time at Pack Trials next spring instead….

If, after all, you decide alternative fuel is for you, we are here to help so give us a ring. But be prepared because we might ask you a few tough questions first. We think that’s our job here.

Here’s to your future efficiency!