What is the Right Roof Pitch For Your Greenhouse?

greenhouse roof angle

Finding the best angle for your greenhouse roof is not as clear cut as some passive solar greenhouse designers make it sound.

Passive solar greenhouse designers often cite this rule of thumb: To find the “best” angle (or pitch) for a greenhouse roof take your latitude and add 20 degrees. While the logic behind this rule is sound, it is a dramatic oversimplification that can lead to costly and unnecessary decisions and a very steep roof. So, how do you find the range of roof pitch angles that will yield adequate light in a year-round greenhouse? In this blog we will explain just that and if you’d like to know more on this topic, check out, The Year-Round Solar Greenhouse, written by our very own founder Marc Plinke.

Understanding “Angle of Incidence” and Figuring Greenhouse Roof Pitch

First, why does this rule exist in the first place? Because the angle of a glazing material — like glass or polycarbonate — affects how much light is transmitted into the greenhouse environment. The angle of a material, relative to light, is often called the “angle of incidence” and plays a role in light transmission.

The maximum amount of light is transmitted into a grow environment when a ray of light hits a surface straight on, or perpendicular, to the material. For single pane glass, for example, light transmission is usually around 90% (the other 10% is reflected or absorbed as heat by the material). When a ray of light hits the surface at a very severe angle, some of the light is reflected off the surface instead of transmitted into the greenhouse. Many greenhouse designers grasp this but fail to realize that this relationship — between the angle of a roof and light transmission — is not linear. There is very little difference in light transmission as you bend the angle away from perpendicular, up until a certain threshold. Across all materials, this threshold is around 45-50 degrees away from perpendicular.

In other words, you can tilt a roof angle about 45 degrees away from the optimal angle (perpendicular to the sun) without significantly affecting light transmission (significant here means less than an 8% change). So shallow-angled roofs do not affect light transmission, as long as they are not super-shallow (over 45 degrees away from perpendicular).

greenhouse roof pitch and light transmittance

Why Does Being More Tolerant with your Greenhouse’s Angle of Incidence Matter?

If you stick with just the simple dictum — to maximize transmission by creating a perpendicular angle — you will likely end up building an extremely steep roof, and a very tall greenhouse. This isn’t necessary for sufficient light transmission, especially if you live in a place with a very low winter sun. For example, during winter solstice in Denver, Colorado (40 degrees latitude) the sun is roughly 30 degrees above the horizon. According to the conventional rule of thumb this would require roof glazing to be about 60 degrees off the horizon (40 +20 = 60). If you sketch that out on paper, you’ll see that a roof angle of 60 degrees requires a very tall North wall or an altered plan for the greenhouse. The graphic below helps flesh this out.

greenhouse roof angle
Effect of the angle of a greenhouse roof on light transmission

How to Arrive at a Sufficient Roof Angle for Your Greenhouse Project  

This is where knowing the full picture can help save time, money and create a more practical solar greenhouse. To account for this wide angle of incidence tolerance, we often recommend people modify the existing rule of thumb to find the range of acceptable roof angles:

  • Take your latitude and add 20 degrees to achieve an angle that is roughly perpendicular to the angle of the sun during the winter season.
  • Then subtract 45 degrees from this number. This gives you the minimum angle that will transmit the majority of light without significant reflection loss. A sketch, like the one below, usually helps to visualize this range.

That is the first half of the picture. The second half has to do with the geometry of the greenhouse and the area of glazing. These factors are also determined by the angle of the roof. As you can see in the examples below, a very steep roof pitch will create a very tall building with a much larger glazing area. A larger glazing area will collect more light and heat because it has a greater surface area that’s exposed to the sun. You can see this by comparing the area of the lines (representing light) in the graphic below.

Light transmission, glazing angles and pitch in a greenhouse roof
Light transmission, glazing angles and pitch in a greenhouse roof

How do you incorporate this consideration? It’s true you can build a larger solar greenhouse and collect more light. However, think about the ramifications on material use, costs and aesthetics. A 20’ tall greenhouse will collect more light than a 10’ tall greenhouse, but may not be desired by neighbors or unfeasible due to building codes. We recommend choosing a practical height, usually a maximum of 9-11’ for residential solar greenhouses, and then using the adjusted rule of thumb to ensure that the glazing meets the minimum roof angle pitch for light transmission. You can also change the height of the south-facing wall to alter the angle. Again, we recommend starting with practical considerations like how much headroom you need.

The Best Greenhouse Roof is a Practical Greenhouse Roof 

The take-away is that the roof angle is rarely a make or break factor for light transmission and can take a back seat to comfort costs and aesthetics. Although if you live far north or far south, roof angle might have more importance than those other factors. Consider these other factors that might affect your roof pitch:

  • Snow-shedding – steeper roofs shed snow more easily in areas where this is a concern
  • Summer heating – a very steep roof can reflect rather than transmit more light in the summer (considering that the summer sun is high in the sky and may hit the roof at an angle greater than 45 degrees)
  • Greenhouse shape – a steep roof may necessitate a more complicated building design. There are a variety of solar greenhouse designs, including A-frames, shed roofs, and gable roofs, described in more detail in The Year-Round Solar Greenhouse. Some solar greenhouse varieties are better equipped for steeply sloped roofs than others.

We hope this blog provides some clarity for choosing the optimal roof angle for a year-round passive solar greenhouse. If you have any questions on solar greenhouse design, contact us here.

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