“Finding ways to reduce energy costs and increase efficiencies is a top priority for Ontario’s greenhouse growers,” says Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs Lisa Thompson. Jingjing Han, Research Engineer with Flowers Canada (Ontario).īuilding on findings from that initial project, Flowers Canada was successful in receiving funding from the Greenhouse Competitiveness and Innovation Initiative (GCII) to conduct more in-depth research into the four technologies and get a better understanding of how they can integrate into existing greenhouse control systems. “We are looking for alternative ways to decrease energy consumption to both reduce grower costs and reduce fossil fuel use,” explains Dr. The fourth technology is an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) prototype that combines the liquid desiccant approach with heat exchange into a single system. This included a mechanical refrigeration dehumidifier (MRD), a liquid desiccant dehumidifier (LDD) that runs humid air past a brine solution to absorb the moisture and then heats the brine to regenerate it, and a heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system that is located outside the greenhouse and warms up the cool, dry air as it enters the facility. (Image courtesy of Flowers Canada).įlowers Canada (Ontario) set about to find a solution to this challenge, accessing funding through the Greenhouse Renewable Energy Technologies (GRET) Research & Development Initiative several years ago to test four different energy recovery technologies for their potential to reduce grower energy needs during the peak greenhouse use period of fall through early spring.
Liquid desiccant dehumidifier installed inside a greenhouse. While effective, this strategy also causes heat loss, which can increase a farm’s energy costs.
Left uncontrolled, humid air can reduce crop growth and result in poor-quality produce, so growers have traditionally resorted to ventilation to manage the issue. You can also use the memory function to remember your times, so you can push one button to reset T1 to 25 minutes, and the same for the T2 timer.High humidity levels inside greenhouses are a by-product of growing crops indoors. That means it is a neat signal when you are in focus mode and it won’t irritate the people you have to share a fridge with.Īs an extra bonus, it has two timers so you can have your 5 or 15 minute timer primed in T2 while the 25 minute countdown is running in T1. The timer has a visual green light that “ticks” while the timer is running and this changes to red when the timer has elapsed. Switching the alarm to silent results in the perfect Pomodoro mode. It has all the benefits of a visible timer, with some neat silent-mode tricks up it’s sleeve. The apps had the benefit of being quieter, but the loss of the ticking and the visibility to others was too high a price to pay.Īnd that’s where my Oregon Scientific TW331 comes in. A rubber-band adjustment made it quieter, but the cost of focus for me can’t be constant disruption for my team mates. It is also highly visible to your colleagues so they know when you need some focus time. The mechanical timer had a couple of benefits… one of the original points about using this kind of timer is that it ticks audibly, which is a reminder that you are using the technique. I started out with a proper mechanical Tomato timer, I tried a phone app for Pomodoro, and I tried just the standard clock app. When you are using The Pomodoro Technique® there is always a bit of a choice to make about your timer.
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