The consumption of fossil fuels in heated greenhouses leads to their shortage to rising prices and to a higher environmental pollution. Therefore, energy efficiency for greenhouses is in the focus of politics and research. The LowEnergyGreenhouse (ZINEG) was intended to achieve a significant reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels in the production of vegetables and ornamental plants as part of a joint project from 2009 to 2014. In the investigated greenhouse system with maximum thermal insulation and a CO2 – neutral energy supply, the aim was to generate improved energy efficiency with more products per energy input. This could be demonstrated by consistent energy savings, in which the greenhouse as a system was improved so that the specific consumption of heating energy per unit generated decreased. The investigations showed that a greenhouse with good insulation also remains optimally usable for plant cultivation. For this assessment, the double-layer plastic film greenhouses were evaluated with different thermal screens, with the cladding materials and thermal screen systems used. Heat transfer, heat consumption and the resulting light potential were discussed. In addition, the proving of new control strategies in the temperature control and control of the thermal screens led to maximum use of the passive solar energy storage and to the reduction in daily energy consumption. The reduction in nighttime energy consumption results from the degree of insulation in the greenhouse (double film plus two thermal screens) and to use the heat from the "passive solar energy storage". Optimized air humidity control with high set – points led to an energy saving dehumidification strategy. The resulting air humidity problem was able to reduce the total energy consumption through an energy saving, control of the thermal screens, heating and ventilation. The transfer of the results obtained into practice can be made possible through the use of readily available materials (thermal screen material, plastic material, etc). This also applies to the tested control strategies that can be used with a commercially available climate computer for vegetable production in greenhouse.weiterlesen