Background

As the prices of both land and labour rise in China facility-based agriculture is beginning to gain momentum. Rather than growing food in open fields Chinese farmers are increasingly likely to use greenhouses and other covered facilities for cultivation. In 2010 there were more than 3.5 million acres in use for facility agriculture and this is expected to grow by a further 50% by 2020.

Purpose

To test the effectiveness of retrofitting greenhouses with modern clean energy technologies for improved EE and productivity and to test the feasibility of using an ESCO model to finance the improvements and then replicate widely.

Implementor

Tongji University