April 9, 2012, Dunnville, Ont. — When the industry talks about energy efficiency and optimization, Rosa Flora is almost always part of the conversation. It’s been an innovation leader for many years.
Greenhouse Canada’s Energy Edge program talked with Rosa Flora operations manager Ralph DeBoer about the company’s leading edge approach to energy efficiency.
The result is a May cover story, along with a video highlighting our interview that has already been posted to the Energy Edge website. Click here to view the video.
Based in Dunnville, Ontario, this cut flower producer has been ahead of the energy curve for many years. Innovations include a towering wind turbine which supplies over five per cent of the facility’s electricity, three massive biomass boilers and its own waste wood processing facility. It recently expanded its number of combined heat-and-power (CHP) units to four.
Rosa Flora’s newest greenhouse range is a double-walled acrylic structure with state of the art, energy efficient lighting. The basic heat transfer system is supplied via tunnels under the structure, so that any heat loss will warm the greenhouses.
“The cost of energy will continue to increase,” says DeBoer. “The better we can manage it today will help us be positioned to continue to be successful in the future.”
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