Utah winter greenhouse?

hey they do have vents that will open and close by themselves depending on the tempurature of the greenhouse   http://www.simplysolargreenhouses.com/vents2.html  , no electricity needed, on another thought, blinds used to reflect the light/heat some can help keep it cooler. Another idea are fans that are using solar panels for their electricity. sorry if this is a repeat 

Edited by simpleyork - May 12 2014 at 2:53pm

Thanks for posting that Jeremy.

Aloha Andrew,

Please contact me at [email protected] or 808-345-1049.

There are only a few other places I have found that used the earth sheltered concepts for a greenhouse, but they used only partial AGS/PAHS concepts. My goal is to use a fully subsurface method of cooling and heating to completely eliminate the need for electrical cooling and heating equipment and monthly bills.

Solar tubes are good. I also installed one on my previous home. Lighting is actually not a problem but for the size of greenhouse I have envisioned, too many solar tubes would be required to light dozens of coral farm troughs. The need is an ability to adjust louvers on south facing glazing to bring in more sunlight during Winter Solstice and yet restrict sunlight during Summer Solstice.

Aloha

J&J Nursery in Layton is open year round but not sure what they use for heating.

Yeah, nice place. The Salt Lake store has huge heaters that burn a lot of natural gas and use a lot of coal generated electricity. That's a lot of CO2 emission. I also know that not too long ago one of the two stores had an electrical mishap for a day resulting in the loss of plants totaling thousands of dollars. I'm wondering if any greenhouse around here has attempted a smaller carbon footprint by using reliable passive solar-earth heating and cooling?
Ideas anyone?

Looking for winter operating local greenhouses.

The design has come together pretty good for keeping the greenhouse cool in the hot summer, but as the weather grows ever colder, now I'm concerned about ensuring it stays warm on the freezing cloudy days/nights of winter. Lately I find myself more concerned with the aspect of making this facility with an extremely small carbon footprint, than I am about it's eventual use as a coral farm!

I went to my sacred place of inspiration the other day where I have received much inspiration for this project. I had the distinct feeling that a wintertime visit to local Orchid Growers/Farmers would be beneficial. I went to the Utah Orchid Society website but contacting someone there is not as easy as our forum. If anyone knows of a greenhouse in Utah that operates during the winter, please let me know.

Hello everyone,

Do you recognize the names Sprung, Moe, Perrin, Delbeek, Headlee, Shimik, Calfo, Michael, Paletta, Borneman, Thiel, Pro, Miller and Blundell? You have likely come into the hobby standing on the shoulders of the giants that have gone before. These are just a few of the ordinary people who did extraordinary things both great and small. We are very appreciative of their work, their accomplishments and their contribution to the marine hobby.

I would like to introduce myself. I have been a reef hobbyist since 1993. During the last 20 years the Wasatch Marine Aquarium Society, which I helped found, paid for many of those pioneers to come to Salt Lake as guest speakers. When they arrived, a few of us took time to meet and visit with our guest speakers before and after the club meetings. We did this in order to learn as much as we could.

As you know, a few of us are currently attempting to do something that has never been done before. It is a pioneering endeavor, built on the work of all those pioneers who have come before. I hope we can count on all of you to help in a positive way with positive suggestions regarding this pioneering endeavor.

Aloha,
Mark
808-345-1049  call or text anytime


Edited by Mark Peterson - October 02 2013 at 11:47pm

Aloha y'all,

The design for the coral greenhouse has significantly changed. Drawing revision number 8 is in the works. Following your advice I checked the Riverton City building codes. Any structure with a floor space 200 square feet or less needs no approval/inspection.

We want to keep this thing under the radar, intending it to be a pilot facility. A 20'x10' greenhouse should work out perfect. Corey Price suggests it be built as a "Proof of Concept", a miniature of the larger facility we hope to build. A small structure will allow this and still keep costs low.

The other major revision has to do with how much sunlight to admit. Than Thein (Tidal Gardens) emphasized that coral require much less sunlight than a full greenhouse provides, yet in the winter SPS coral growth slows because of lack of light. I'm actually seeing the effects of too much sunlight in my tank sitting in the full days sunlight of an unobstructed south facing window! With this in mind the revised design, utilizing translucent glazing, minimizes summer sunlight and encourages winter sunlight, hopefully .

This will also minimize summer heat which has been a major concern emphasized by David Allen the builder/occupant of a passive solar home here in Utah.

Regarding the coral systems, skimmers will be a must, to keep coral safe in the case of mishap. The ability to do real time monitoring with controllers will be important too, since there will be no reason for a person to be in the greenhouse most of the day. This is what Bob was thinking, from his quote in the OP, right?

Thanks for reading. As always, we are open to suggestions because we cannot find where this has been done before.

Mahalo,
Mark


Edited by Mark Peterson - October 02 2013 at 10:36am

Nope.
That news video gives a good view of the place.

Fatman wrote: Also, if this needs a building permit I'll bet because it's an unusual type of structure they'll probably want an engineering certification on it before they approve it.Â

Yes, the structure needs to be engineered.

Mark,

We should start to talk about that engineering.

Also, I think we should talk to a mechanical engineer about the heat load versus the ground cooling capacity.

Corey

Aloha,

Three days later we dropped in on Tidal Gardens early Saturday morning September 13, 2013. Than Thein was so kind to make time for us. He was very interested in our plans for a subsurface greenhouse and I hope to have further contact with him. Than was very open and extremely helpful. He gave me some tips about what is important and what he would do different next time. The visit to Tidal Gardens was very productive. Many thanks to Than Thein. Tidal Gardens uses the internet very effectively. While Tropicorium has very little internet sales, Than said that his sales are mostly via the internet. Part of the reason can be seen just by comparing the two websites.

A tour and history of the greenhouse is right on their website. Here is the link: http://www.tidalgardens.com/aquaculture-greenhouse-coral-farm-a/253.htm

Here are the pics I took:





Owner Than Thein:














I'm a little embarrassed to say, but these are all my pics of Tidal Gardens.
I got so enthralled with the cleanliness and organization of the facility that most of what I have from the visit is a confirmation in my mind of how a coral farm greenhouse ought to be. Than took some of his valuable time to sit down with me (very nice to have a chair to sit on in the greenhouse) and discuss it all.

Next: latest drawings - almost ready to begin excavating


Edited by Mark Peterson - September 27 2013 at 9:46am