Solar Greenhouses
Posted by Busyview on January 31, 2009
My family owns several large commercial greenhouses that supply many retailers in this region. The plants we grow require different temperature ranges, which means we must use a combination of air conditioning, fans, and heaters for control. We mostly grow plants ranging from ferns to orchids. And it’s not just the plants we want to keep comfortable – our people deserve it too.
We’ve been discussing the pros and cons of solar energy and whether we should have solar power panels installed. Even with the tax credits, we’re still looking at a significant investment of our own, but we don’t have to purchase the system – we can lease it, or just buy the power. Buying it would be cheapest in the long run. We’re still debating that. As a business, we’ve been affected by poor economic conditions; at the same time, we know that going solar makes sense anyway. It’s a long term investment. My family has been in business for 75 years. We’ve weathered downturns before and managed to come through every time.
So at this point we’ve pretty much decided to go ahead with the conversion. It will be a big change for us. Since I’m overseeing this project, I want to do a good job.