Introducing Gebbora: Greenhouse Simulation From a Browser
Gebbora is a software platform for controlled-environment agriculture. Our first product, the Gebbora Greenhouse Simulator, is now live at sim.gebbora.app.
Greenhouse Simulator runs a full-year physics simulation on any greenhouse design — thermal performance, solar radiation, crop transpiration, energy loads, and more — using real hourly climate data for your exact location. 12+ engine modules. 8,760 hourly calculations per analysis. Results in under 30 seconds.
This post explains why we built it, what it does, and how to start using it today.
The simulation gap
Designing a greenhouse means balancing dozens of interrelated variables: cover materials, heating, cooling, lighting, shading, ventilation, and crop requirements — all interacting with local climate in ways that spreadsheets cannot reliably capture.
The tools that exist today fall into three categories, each with real limitations:
- Academic tools like Wageningen University’s KASPRO are the gold standard for greenhouse physics — but they are not commercially available. Access requires a consulting engagement.
- Generic building energy software like TRNSYS and EnergyPlus model conventional buildings, not agricultural environments. They have no native support for crop transpiration, photosynthetically active radiation, or evaporative cooling. Making them work for greenhouses requires expert scripting and a $5,000+ licence.
- The one direct web-based competitor covers energy simulation but does not model crop transpiration, DLI/PAR, evaporative cooling, or VPD — precisely the capabilities most critical for hot-arid climates where CEA investment is accelerating fastest.
The result: the majority of greenhouse projects worldwide are designed on experience and best guesses. Custom spreadsheets, rule-of-thumb calculations, or consulting engagements that cost $10,000–$100,000 and take 8–12 weeks. According to leading consultancies, 40% of greenhouse projects they initially model are found to be unprofitable and require redesign.
Greenhouse Simulator exists to close that gap.
What Greenhouse Simulator does differently
Greenhouse Simulator is greenhouse simulation software that is purpose-built for agricultural environments — not adapted from generic building energy tools.
Real climate data, not assumptions. Every analysis uses hourly satellite data from the EU Joint Research Centre’s PVGIS database, with optional expanded coverage from ERA5 reanalysis — 122 meteorological variables, global coverage. You simulate with the climate your greenhouse will actually face.
12+ physics engine modules. Solar radiation (direct, diffuse, PAR). Heat transfer through multi-layer cover assemblies. Crop transpiration via FAO-56 Penman-Monteith and Stanghellini models. DLI classification. VPD. CO₂ demand. Evaporative cooling (fan-and-pad, fog/mist). Supplementary lighting. Equipment sizing. Each engine is documented and cited — no black boxes.
8,760 hourly calculations per analysis. A full year of hourly simulation, not monthly averages or seasonal snapshots. You see how your greenhouse performs in the coldest hour of January and the hottest hour of August.
35 cover and shading materials. Glass, polycarbonate, polyethylene film, and screen materials with manufacturer-sourced optical and thermal properties. Up to 4 motorised shading and energy screen layers per design.
23 built-in crop species. Each with documented environmental setpoints — PPFD/DLI, temperature, humidity, CO₂ — and full academic citations. Custom crop profiles are supported for crops not in the library.
Five interactive report tabs. Overview scores and KPIs. Outdoor climate profiles. Indoor climate with adequacy heatmaps. Plant growth analysis with DLI calendars and transpiration data. Energy loads with heating and cooling breakdowns. Plus a downloadable PDF report — 10–20 pages, formatted and paginated.
From a browser. No software installation. No university licence. No IT department. Configure your greenhouse, run the simulation, read the results.
Who Greenhouse Simulator is for
Engineers and consultants use it to validate designs, size heating and cooling systems, and generate analysis reports for clients. A feasibility study that once required weeks of spreadsheet work or a consulting engagement now takes minutes.
Commercial growers and farm owners use it to compare cover materials, cooling strategies, and shading configurations before committing to a project. The simulation tells you whether your design will deliver the growing conditions your crop needs — before the first foundation is poured.
Educators and researchers use it to teach greenhouse climate physics with a tool students can access from their phones. Every equation is documented. Every material source is cited. The methodology is transparent enough to teach with.
Agronomists and advisors use it to assess crop suitability, light adequacy, and climate control requirements for any location worldwide. PVGIS data covers most of Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia — the regions where CEA investment is growing fastest.
What’s free
Greenhouse Simulator is free to start. Every account receives 250 credits on signup and 180 credits refreshed on the 1st of each month. No credit card required.
A typical feasibility analysis costs 16 credits. A full 10-year study with every engine enabled costs 48 credits. The free tier is enough to run a complete design evaluation and several iterations — enough to explore meaningfully, not just peek at the interface.
When you need more, credit packs start at $15 for 250 credits. Pay per analysis, not per seat or per year. Regional pricing ensures accessibility: automatic multipliers from 0.35× to 1.00× based on your billing country.
What’s next
Gebbora Greenhouse Simulator is the first product on the Gebbora platform. It is fully live and ready for production use today.
The platform is designed to grow. A Greenhouse Designer tool for structural specifications and bills of quantities. A financial modelling tool for investment feasibility and cost-benefit analysis. Farm operations management for production scheduling and performance tracking. Each product works independently but shares data when combined — a simulation feeds a design, which feeds a cost estimate, which feeds an operational plan.
For now, the Greenhouse Simulator stands on its own. If you design, build, consult on, or operate greenhouses, it was built for the way you work.
Try Greenhouse Simulator Free →
250 credits. No card. From a browser.
