Saif Islam, former director of CITRIS at UC Davis and chair of the UC Davis Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, worked with Md Shamim Ahamed, an assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering, and researchers Amrit Kumar Thakur and T. M. Abir Ahsan to develop a new energy and water-efficient shade screen for plants.
Greenhouses conserve land, water and fertilizers while promoting higher crop yields, but they can get extremely hot in warm climates such as California’s Central Valley. Commonly used cooling methods, such as fans or evaporative cooling systems, involve large amounts of water or energy, and traditional cooling shades block photosynthetically active radiation, the light needed for photosynthesis.
The team’s new multilayer film reflects heat off plants but lets through photosynthetically active radiation. The film is composed of stacked layers of materials, including zinc oxide, calcium fluoride and silver.