How Jac. Oudijk Grow Gerberas with High Energy Efficiency Using DryGair

Jac. Oudijk create the perfect greenhouse climate for their gerberas. However, they do so at a very high efficiency rate, requiring as little energy as possible. This is how they do it.

The original article was recently published in Dutch magazine, Bloemen Planten Nieuws.

Using Powerful and Efficient Lighting

About a year ago, Jac. Oudijk replaced the lighting in half of the greenhouse with LED lighting. With the same consumption, the light intensity was almost doubled. “Lighting can now be done with a total of 270 mol, while an average level of about 135 mol is usual for this crop,” says general manager Dirk-Jan Oudijk.

Soon after, the entire greenhouse was equipped with LED lights. Operational director Laurens Oudijk says, “It’s a significant investment. But it quickly became clear that we could achieve high productivity and quality year-round due to these lights. It’s definitely an economically responsible choice.”

Controlling Humidity Without Ventilation Using DryGair

Lighting a closed greenhouse creates a humidity problem. In the past, the moisture the plants emit was “fired out of the greenhouse”. However, this isn’t efficient, as releasing air also releases heat.

3 years ago, Jac. Oudijk purchased several DryGair units to control humidity without ventilation. This enabled the growers to substantially reduce their pipe temperature, saving about 50% on gas consumption.

Further Improving Efficiency with Screens

In combination with a double blackout screen and a translucent energy screen, the heat introduced into the greenhouse can be retained for a long time. In this way, the residual heat from the greenhouse’s own CHP system has been sufficient to maintain ideal greenhouse climate conditions 24 hours a day.

The way Jac. Oudijk have set up their greenhouse operation is completely in line with the ‘New Way to Grow’ concept, in which efficient lighting, insulation and dehumidification are combined to create the best growing conditions, at the lowest energy requirement.

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