ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the possibility that some day we will see greenhouses constructed with very high insulation properties. This, of course, will increase capital investment, shifting a greater advantage to milder climates. Greenhouses means of overcoming climatic adversity, using a free energy source, the sun. The industry, as a whole, represents a minuscule part of total worldwide agricultural production, as noted by the disparity between area in greenhouses versus total area of any country. Russia may be a special case because the total arable area under the present regime is about 13% of the total land area. Russia is 1.8 times the size of the US Given Russia's climate, greenhouse production could be highly important. Although, the Netherlands were generally given first place in the list of total area in protected cultivation shows that Japan, including soft plastics, takes first place.
