Near-Infrared Reflective Greenhouse Covering: A Novel Strategy for Electricity-Free Cooling

Traditional cooling strategies for greenhouses commonly result in significant electricity consumption and a substantial release of carbon dioxide emissions. Considering the industrial fabrication process for the greenhouse covering film and the thermal management theory, we developed a composite greenhouse covering film that incorporates titanium dioxide into polyethylene to achieve near-infrared reflection. The film demonstrates an impressive near-infrared reflectance of 54.4% within the wavelength range of 780-2500 nm. A tunnel-type greenhouse demo comparative test results show that the composite film can effectively decrease the average temperature inside the greenhouse by 6.7(degrees)C in comparison to the pure polyethylene film. The reduction implies a significant annual saving in cooling electricity at the national level of 2151912.3 MW h, along with an annual CO(2 )emission reduction by 1250261.1 tons.