In-depth Analysis of Advantages and Disadvantages of New Smart Dutch Glass Greenhouses

I. Core Advantages: Precision, High Efficiency, and Sustainability

1. Long Service Life and Stable Growth Environment

The main structure of the greenhouse adopts hot-dip galvanized steel (with a galvanized layer thickness of 85μm), paired with 6063-grade high-strength aluminum alloy components. The overall service life can reach 20-30 years, far exceeding the average lifespan of 5-10 years of traditional plastic greenhouses, significantly reducing long-term renovation costs. The top is covered with ultra-white diffuse glass, which has an original light transmittance of up to 97.5%. At the same time, it is equipped with an automated top cleaning machine that regularly removes dust and stains from the glass surface, ensuring the light transmittance remains above 90% for a long time. More importantly, the diffuse light design of the diffuse glass can effectively reduce the plant photoinhibition effect, avoid problems of excessively strong or weak local light, and create an excellent "shadow-free uniform growth" environment for crops.

2. Revolutionary Breakthroughs in Production Capacity and Resource Efficiency

Significant Yield Doubling Effect: Taking tomato cultivation as an example, the annual yield of Dutch glass greenhouses can reach 70-80 kg/m², while that of ordinary greenhouses is only 10-15 kg/m². In cases of refined management, the yield can even exceed 120 kg/m², which is 6-12 times that of traditional planting models.

Leading Resource Utilization Efficiency: The intelligent integrated water and fertilizer irrigation system can save 90% of water compared with traditional flood irrigation, and the fertilizer utilization rate is increased to 95%, reducing nutrient loss and soil pollution. The closed-circuit water system further optimizes resource consumption, with water consumption per ton of fruits and vegetables being only 3.5 m³, far lower than the industry standard set by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, which meets the needs of sustainable agricultural development.

3. Full-Scenario Intelligence and Precise Environmental Control

The greenhouse is equipped with an IoT central system, which collaborates with more than 2,000 distributed sensors to collect and analyze key environmental data in real time, such as temperature, humidity, light intensity, and CO₂ concentration. Among them, the CO₂ concentration can be stably maintained at 900 μmol/mol, which is more than 3 times higher than that in the natural environment. This helps improve the photosynthesis efficiency of crops and achieve a 30% yield increase. At the same time, automated equipment fully replaces manual work: robots complete core processes such as pollination, harvesting, and sorting, which not only reduces labor costs by 70% but also avoids errors caused by manual operations, ensuring the consistency of product quality.

II. Pain Points and Challenges: Localization Dilemma Under High Thresholds

1. Huge Initial Investment Exceeds the Affordability of Most Entities

The cost of a full set of imported Dutch glass greenhouses is as high as 1,500-2,000 RMB per square meter. Even after localized technological improvements, the cost still needs 500-800 RMB per square meter. Taking a 10,000 m² standardized greenhouse as an example, the total investment requires 5-8 million RMB. This amount far exceeds the financial capacity of ordinary farmers and small-scale cooperatives and can only be accepted by large agricultural enterprises or industrial parks, limiting the popularization scope of the technology.

2. Dual Pressures of Energy Consumption and Technical Dependence

High Energy Consumption Costs in Winter: In northern China, gas heating is required to maintain the greenhouse temperature in winter, and this cost accounts for more than 40% of the annual operating costs. Without energy subsidies from local governments, most projects are prone to losses.

Shortage of Professional Technical Talents: Dutch glass greenhouses require professional teams to manage automated systems and maintain soilless cultivation (rock wool/coconut coir substrate) facilities. However, there is a scarcity of mature talents in related fields in China, resulting in actual yields only reaching 60% of the level in the Netherlands, failing to give full play to the technical potential.

3. Disconnection Between Climate Adaptability Design and Local Needs

The initial design of Dutch glass greenhouses is based on the local maritime climate (mild and humid with small temperature differences). However, China has a vast territory and diverse climate types: in continental climate regions such as Northeast China, the winter thermal insulation capacity is insufficient, requiring additional heating equipment; in high-temperature and high-humidity regions such as South China, the energy consumption for cooling in summer is too high, further increasing operating costs, highlighting the problem of "inadaptability to local conditions".

If your project requires efficient greenhouse solutions or you wish to learn about the latest application cases of greenhouse technology, please feel free to contact us. Our team will provide end-to-end support—from solution design and equipment selection to project implementation—based on your planting needs and site conditions, helping improve the quality and efficiency of your agricultural production. We look forward to exploring more possibilities of modern greenhouse cultivation with you. [Contact Us].