Comparison of heat requirements in greenhouses for Kirşehir and Kahramanmaraş provinces

Greenhouses are artificial growing environments that can provide the growth factors required for the production of crop plants out of season. In these structures, the low temperature values that occur during the year cause losses in yield and quality because they are not suitable for plant cultivation. In order to be able to grow out of season in these periods, the amount of heat required by the plants should be provided with additional heating. In the study carried out to determine the amount of heat needed in greenhouses throughout the year for the provinces of Kırşehir and Kahramanmaraş, which are located in two different regions of Turkey, the heat requirements that will arise in the presence or absence of a thermal screen in greenhouses with the same characteristics were calculated. In the calculations, the most common tomato plant grown in both provinces has been considered. Accordingly, if the greenhouse temperature is kept at a constant temperature of 18°C throughout the year, the heat energy requirements that emerge during the year are 469.90 kWh m.-2 for Kırşehir and 254.71 kWh m.-2 for Kahramanmaraş. In the case of using a thermal screen, these values were calculated as 401.53 kWh m.-2 for Kırşehir province and 218.91 kWh m.-2 for Kahramanmaraş province. As a result of the study, the amount of heat energy needed in greenhouses in provinces decreased with the use of thermal screens. It has been determined that this situation is extremely important in terms of reducing the share of heating in production costs and the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by fossil energy sources used for heating purposes.