Natural gas prices are historically volatile: Henry Hub prices rose roughly 60% during 2025 before easing in 2026, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects prices to trend upward again in 2027, a pattern also noted in the IEA’s Global Energy Review 2026. Traditional greenhouse heating, which typically relies on gas boilers, exposes growers directly to these swings. Electric greenhouse systems reduce that exposure by using heat pump technology instead of combustion, and in many cases can match or exceed the performance of a gas-powered system.
This post covers how electric greenhouse heating, cooling, and dehumidification work, and how Ceres’ EcoLoop™ and EcoPack™ systems compare to a traditional gas-powered setup.
Why Does Insulation Matter Before Electrification?
Before looking at electricity-based environmental control, it’s worth starting with the thermal envelope. Traditional greenhouses are often poorly insulated, which increases how much heat, and how much gas, is needed to keep them operating in colder temperatures. Highly insulated greenhouses can meaningfully reduce heating loads depending on their design and materials.
What’s the Alternative to Gas-Powered Greenhouse Heating?
Traditionally, commercial greenhouses use central gas boilers to heat water or steam distributed through the greenhouse via a piping system, similar to a radiant heating system in a home. This method is well established, but it ties operating costs directly to natural gas markets, which are prone to sharp swings.
Electric greenhouses offer an alternative, similar in spirit to how electric vehicles reduce exposure to gasoline prices. Electricity prices can fluctuate too, but Ceres’ EcoLoop™ and EcoPack™ systems use heat pump technology to condition the greenhouse using significantly less electricity than resistance heating would require, reducing growers’ overall exposure to any single fuel market.
How Do the EcoLoop™ and EcoPack™ Systems Work?
The EcoLoop™ is a hybrid ground-coupled heat pump system. It includes a ground loop component beneath the greenhouse footprint that constantly circulates water through the underground system. The circulating water either absorbs heat from the earth surrounding the mats or dissipates heat back into the earth, depending on whether the system is in heating or cooling mode. The ground loop component transfers thermal energy to and from the heat pump component, which sits above ground on the exterior of the north wall of the greenhouse. Through this process, the system uses geothermal energy to regulate the temperature of the greenhouse space.
The EcoPack™ works similarly and also combines heating, cooling, and dehumidification into one system. The main difference is that EcoPack™ doesn’t use geothermal ground coupling or external evaporation for cooling. It’s slightly less efficient than EcoLoop™, but the system is simpler and cheaper to install. It can use natural gas for heating or run as an electric-only unit, and either way it’s significantly more efficient than a traditional gas-powered boiler system.
A SunChamber™ integrated with the EcoLoop™ geothermal HVACD system
To learn more about how HVAC systems and the EcoLoop™ works, watch this informational video.
What Other Greenhouse Systems Are Gas-Powered?
Desiccant dehumidification systems are one example: when plants transpire into the greenhouse space, that extra moisture needs to be managed through ventilation or dehumidification, and depending on the system, dehumidification can rely on gas. See our guide to greenhouse dehumidification systems for more.
With the EcoLoop™ and EcoPack™, dehumidification is built into the system. The heat pump component cools incoming moist air to its dew point, and after condensation occurs, waste heat from the heat pump reheats the air back to a comfortable growing temperature before it’s returned to the greenhouse. This combined approach helps growers maintain target vapor pressure deficit (VPD) levels, and because it runs entirely on electricity, it removes gas and propane from the dehumidification process as well.
What Else Do Electric and Geothermal Greenhouses Offer?
The EcoLoop™ and EcoPack™ are components of Ceres’ SunChamber™, a sealed greenhouse design with full system integration. The SunChamber™ combines solar gain with integrated climate control technology to create a biosecure, highly controlled growing environment, which can reduce the risk of crop failure and support consistent crop quality.
Reducing reliance on natural gas is one part of a larger shift toward more resilient, energy-efficient greenhouse design. For a broader look at how passive solar design, thermal storage, and renewable energy work together toward that goal, see our guide to net zero greenhouse design.
