Wheatfield Gardens Uses New York State Benchmarking Program
The Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE) consortium, with support from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and in partnership with EnSave, has shared a benchmarking tool for commercial greenhouses in New York State since 2020.
The New York State Greenhouse Benchmarking initiative helps growers understand key greenhouse energy performance metrics and compares their operation’s performance to others based on metrics such as input energy required per unit of crop produced. This program uses third-party FlexTech consultants to deliver benchmarking services and reviews final reports with GLASE Principal Investigators for accuracy.
About Wheatfield Gardens
In its 550,000 square-foot facility, Wheatfield Gardens grows lettuce, culinary herbs, blackberries, industrial hemp, adult-use cannabis, and nursery plants. The Greenhouse Benchmarking Report covers energy use and production from October 2021 to September 2022. The analysis is based on operations and equipment data collected during a site visit conducted on Sept. 27, 2022, along with utility bill records from the preceding 12-month period.
Enhancing Energy Efficiency
Greenhouse Benchmark Reports include recommended actions for growers to enhance energy efficiency and performance. The report gave Wheatfield Gardens the data it needed to implement two key upgrades: Installing an energy curtain for the cannabis flower canopy to retain heat at night and improve efficiency and replacing outdated lighting with 2.3 µmol/W LEDs, based on the report’s confirmation of inefficiencies in the existing setup.
Installing Energy Curtains
Energy curtains, also known as energy screens, thermal curtains, or heat curtains, help retain heat in greenhouses during nights or cold, cloudy days, reducing heating fuel use by 30–60% compared to greenhouses without curtains. They conserve heat by creating an insulating air layer, reducing the volume of air to be heated, and reflecting radiated heat back inside. Additionally, in summer, energy curtains offer shade, which lowers the electricity costs of mechanical cooling.
Installing a Higher Efficacy Lighting System
Horticultural lighting efficacy measures photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) output per watt, expressed as photosynthetic photon efficacy (PPE) in µmol/J. PPE ranges from 0.9 for older fluorescent and 1.7 for HID fixtures (e.g., HPS and metal halide) to 3.5 for advanced LED fixtures. LED fixtures offer benefits like dimmability and wavelength control for plant growth. While LEDs are pricier than HID options, utility incentives can help offset upgrade costs.
What’s Next for Wheatfield Gardens?
Wheatfield Gardens upholds sustainable growing practices, like its commitment to CO2 capture and reuse. Unlikecannabis operators that purchase CO2 for crop fertilization, Wheatfield Gardens captures CO2 from its natural gas combustion through its boiler and co-generation systems. This system reduces emissions and repurposes CO2 as a resource for crop growth.
“We’ve never purchased CO2,” says Paal Elfstrum, CEO and founder of Wheatfield Gardens. “We capture it from our natural gas combustion to fertilize our crops. It’s a huge investment, and yet I don’t see anywhere in the climate action plan where we can get credit for this.”
This approach highlights Wheatfield Gardens’ commitment to exploring the environmental benefits of CO2 sequestration and reuse, alongside other measures to enhance energy efficiency in its operations.