Modeling of a solar-aided heating and cooling system with thermal energy storage for a sustainable agricultural greenhouse

• Developed a solar-assisted chiller–heat pump model with energy storage. • Simulated greenhouse heating, cooling, and ventilation under control strategies • Integrated passive methods: ventilation control and shade cloth in MATLAB code. • Reduced energy use by ∼50 % from 160,448 to 80,540 kWh in greenhouse operation. • Lowered carbon emissions by 49.8 % from 86,883 to 43,613 kg-CO 2 . Greenhouses, a primary feature of sustainable agriculture, necessitate sophisticated climate management due to the intricacies of heat and mass transfer processes. Computational modeling tools are utilized to simulate the microclimate within greenhouses under different design scenarios, determine heating and cooling loads, and ascertain optimal control strategies. The current study develops a novel simulation model of a solar-assisted chiller and heat pump system with a thermal energy storage unit for heating, cooling, and ventilation of a climate-controlled agricultural greenhouse. A comprehensive study of the thermal impact of ventilation control and shade cloth, which are passive air conditioning methods used in greenhouses, is conducted using the in-house code developed in MATLAB. The greenhouse air conditioning system’s energy consumption is reduced from 160,447.9 to 80,540.3 kWh by implementing ventilation control and shade cloth. This also leads to a reduction in carbon emissions from 86,882.5 to 43,612.6 kg-CO 2 by 49.8 %.