Research

Stove Notes:

article: "Improved...Stoves" by Bill Stewart

-Make the combustion process as efficient as possible

-Heat transfer to room should also be as efficient as possible

Analysis of Bagasse: Carbon (48); Hydrogen (6); Oxygen (46)

Analysis of Peat: Carbon (60); Hydrogen (6); Oxygen (32)

Combustion heat value of Bagasse: 19.26 MJ.kg

Combustion heat value of Peat: 23.3 MJ.kg

Three main modes of heat transfer= Conduction; Radiation; Convection

Info on heating:

Calculate heat system capacity

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/hortcult/greenhou/building.htm#Heating

Insulation:

[The Walnut Hill Greenhouse will be oriented North-South]

article: "Effect of greenhouse design parameters on conservation of energy for greenhouse environmental control" by Gupta & Chandra

This study was for greenhouses in the north Indian cold climatic region.

 "The use of night curtains reduced the night time heating requirement by 70.8% and daily requirement by 60.6%... An internal rock bed thermal storage/retrieval system met the remaining heating energy requirements of the energy-conserving greenhouse."

"Hartz et al. [11] found that a prototype greenhouse (5.5×9.0 m) with a reflective wall (Plywood painted with a highly reflective white coating capable of reflecting 93% of incident radiation) with a conventional greenhouse, required 14% less energy for heating between October and March"

Performance improved when the northern wall was opaque.

Recommends north side insulation & the experiment had a transparent southern side

Thermal screens/night curtains:

"70% heat conservations can occur in greenhouses with night coverings

The greatest savings of (more than 50% at night) were obtained using a double layer of the non-woven polyester material, floratex 80, aluminum-backed air cap (bubble film) and a double layer of black polyester film.:

 "night time heat loss from a double acrylic greenhouse could be reduced by 60–70% with a polystyrene pellet shading system"

Basically: it was "reported that just drawing any screen during the night resulted in energy saving of at least 20%."