Transient thermal modelling of a Mediterranean greenhouse for sustainable agriculture: Comparison of desert and dry-summer subtropical climates

Climate change has become increasingly dominant in recent years and threatens food production and security in many areas worldwide. Due to the increase in temperature in some regions, there is a drought problem in agricultural food production, causing issues for food security. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that climate change causes a reduction in crop quality and yield changes in farmer livelihoods. Greenhouse agriculture is a common and more protected farming management system than open-field farming. However, the influence of different climate regions on agricultural production in greenhouses should be investigated. In this study, thermal modeling of a greenhouse with and without ventilation is performed to determine the temperature and humidity variations of the greenhouse indoor air variations in selected provinces from Turkiye and Qatar to represent the effects of different climate regions. The impacts of variable climatic conditions on the greenhouse's indoor and agricultural plants' temperatures are investigated. Furthermore, implementing a heat pump as heating and cooling equipment in the greenhouse is studied. The yearly average vegetation and indoor temperature, respectively, are determined as 31.41 degrees C and 30.04 degrees C for Doha and 21.69 degrees C and 20.43 degrees C for Izmir. While the annual average unconditioned indoor temperature is found as 30.04 degrees C, the average conditioned indoor temperature is determined as 23.67 degrees C in Doha City. Moreover, the combined climate control mechanisms reduce the number of hours out of the optimum temperature range from 8013 to 1.4 and from 2640 to 3.1 in Doha and Izmir, respectively.