An estimate of heating load in advance is highly desirable for protected horticultural crop cultivation. A series of experiments were carried out to investigate the fuel consumption of greenhouse as affected by different set point of inside air temperature, and the effects of environment parameters on the soil heat flux (SHF). The major environmental factors affecting soil heat flux in winter was found to be air temperature followed by solar radiation, net radiation, relative humidity and absolute humidity. The coefficient of partial correlation determination (partial R©÷) between soil heat flux and air temperature of independent variable was 0.776^(**) and the other partial R©÷ were lower. The prediction of fuel consumption was using equation of SHF and modified Mihara¢¥s model. Using the proposed 1, 2, 3, and 4 equations, the amount of fuel consumption (L/year) at 68 regions can be obtained easily as affected by different air temperature settings according to the greenhouse types.
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