In 1997, a farm built in Changping District, Beijing, used a greenhouse built with an ETFE membrane structure. Its covering material began to use ETFE film. It was mainly used for greenhouse seedlings and greenhouse planting of Japanese reticulated melons, strawberries, colored bell peppers, etc. .
In addition to being used in large buildings, such as the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, the main venue for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, ETFE is also widely used in agriculture. In addition to livestock and breeding, it can also be used in greenhouses. Grow flowers, vegetables and fruits in greenhouses.
There are two main types of greenhouses built with ETFE membrane structures, one is botanical gardens and zoos, and the other is agricultural greenhouses.
The Aarhus Botanical Garden in Denmark uses ETFE air pillow membrane structure to build a greenhouse, which is Denmark’s national symbol greenhouse. The structure of the greenhouse is optimized through advanced calculations to obtain the best sunlight incident angle in winter and vice versa in summer. A variety of tropical plants, trees and flowers fill the oval greenhouse with a transparent dome.
The Eden Greenhouse in the UK was built in 2001 and was the largest ETFE membrane structure building built using ETFE materials in the world at that time. Gathering almost all the plants in the world, more than 4,500 species and 134,000 flowers and trees, the greenhouse is composed of four connected dome-shaped buildings, covered with a transparent membrane structure cover made of ETFE.
As the concepts of ecological protection and sustainable development continue to be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, more and more attention is paid to the protection of rare plants. The emergence of ETFE membrane botanical gardens has well protected the survival efficiency of rare plants.
In terms of agricultural greenhouses, ETFE films provide a greenhouse environment for agricultural planting. Because it has full-band optical fiber permeability, it is especially beneficial to plants in infrared absorption, offsets low radiation at night, and is conducive to crop growth. In Japan, almost all greenhouses use it.
Why is ETFE often used to build greenhouses?
Mainly because of its good light transmittance. The light transmittance of ETFE film can reach more than 94%, which is as bright indoors as outdoors, providing good lighting conditions for plants. Full-spectrum natural light is essential for plant health, thereby keeping plants safe and healthy, increasing the yield and quality of vegetables and fruits, and reducing water usage, reducing costs and improving efficiency.
Plus it has a super long service life. The long-term weather resistance of ETFE materials (25-30 years) saves material costs and reduces labor costs because recycling is not required, significantly increasing the yield of horticultural greenhouses by optimizing the indoor environment.
Agriculture is the foundation of a country and the basis for people’s survival. As an important part of modern agriculture, greenhouses can effectively protect the plants inside while providing them with the sunlight and heat needed for growth. ETFE materials have advantages that other materials cannot match.
