Philips Horticulture LED Solutions and partners collaborated on a trial to help tomato growers find a solution for cultivating a full-LED winter lit crop with a low heat input without impacting yield or quality. LED lighting is an energy-efficient lighting solution that comes with a low radiant heat output. Therefore, when tomato growers switch to full-LED systems, they often find themselves requiring a different heating approach. The trial used active air dehumidification and demonstrated that controlling and optimizing all aspects in a greenhouse enables a lower heat input while enabling sufficient transpiration to support strong and healthy crop production.

Due to high energy prices and the rising importance of sustainability, growers are under ever-greater pressure to decrease their heat input. However, a switch to a full-LED cultivation system risks conflicting with this, since LEDs produce significantly less radiant heat than other lights. Therefore, growers often need to add extra heat from other sources and to adjust their heating strategies. The trial results showed that a holistic approach that optimizes all aspects of a greenhouse can help growers achieve a lower heat input while still producing strong and healthy crops.

By controlling and optimizing all aspects in a greenhouse, the trial demonstrated that a lower heat input can be achieved while enabling sufficient transpiration to support strong and healthy crop production. The results were astounding, with the heat input reduced by more than 50% compared to a typical commercial grower's baseline gas consumption. Read more in the whitepaper below.