Chinese solar greenhouses (CSGs) play an important role in horticultural development, providing high-efficiency thermal storage performance compared to the other greenhouse styles. CGSs are fully passive solar greenhouses for vegetables without auxiliary heating system during the winter. To improve the thermal environmental conditions of CSGs and produce better crops, some strategies have been investigated to improve the thermal environment. Chinese solar greenhouses (CSGs) play an important role in horticultural development, providing high-efficiency thermal storage performance compared to the other greenhouse styles. CGSs are fully passive solar greenhouses for vegetables without auxiliary heating system during the winter. To improve the thermal environmental conditions of CSGs and produce better crops, some strategies have been investigated to improve the thermal environments. In this study, a comprehensive review is presented focusing on key strategies for improving the thermal environment in CSGs. The technologies considered within the scope of this research are mainly renewable and sustainable solutions such as structures (sunken CSG, variable south roof CSG, air channel heat exchange CSG), options for north wall materials (hollow wall, pebble wall, phase-change materials), and equipment for thermal storage (water circulation thermal storage, energy-efficient heat pump thermal storage, photovoltaic thermal storage). These new findings revealed that through the application of a single strategy or synergistic strategies, we can maximize the utilization of renewable and sustainable energy to provide indoor heating. This review also provides a reference for design, application and research on thermal storage and energy-saving strategies for CSGs.••••This paper summarizes the renewable and sustainable strategies for improving the thermal environment of Chinese solar greenhouses (CSG) from structural forms, north wall materials and equipment for thermal storage.••CSG structure forms include sunken, variable south roof and air channel heat exchange. North wall materials include hollow wall, pebble wall and phase-change materials. Equipment for thermal storage include water circulation, energy-efficient heat pump and photovoltaic.••Combined two or more ways of heat storage forms, the thermal storage ability in CSG will be better.Chinese solar greenhouseThermal environmentGreenhouse structureHeat storage materialsChinese solar greenhouses (CSG) play an important role in the development of horticultural facilities in China. They are widely used to grow vegetables during winter without any auxiliary heating, especially when the monthly daily average air temperature in the coldest three months of the year was below −10°C,. Generally, CSG are 50 m to 100 m long, with the structures getting longer as the farm machinery improves. They consist of a south roof (covered by a layer of plastic film and supported by bamboo, wood, cement, or steel skeleton), a north roof (non-transparent roof made of light-in-weight materials, such as wood panels, aerated concrete slabs, or straw), a north wall (brick, earth, or layered wall with the rectangular cross-section for the brick wall and the trapezoidal shape for most of the earthen wall), west and east end walls (brick or earth) and a thermal blanket (straw, quilt or non-woven), which provides a suitable environment for the intensive production of various vegetable crops, such as tomato, pepper and eggplant (Fig. 1),,.Sunlight is the main energy sources on Earth. It provides not only the primary energy for plant photosynthesis, but also maintains the thermal environment of CSGs. A CSG is essentially an enclosed structure to create a favorable microclimate for higher productivity of plant by trapping the short wavelength solar radiation and storing the long wavelength thermal radiation,,. T. The thermal storage-release performance of current CSGs and the urgent need to conserve fossil fuels prices have directed a series of researchers to pursue renewable and sustainable strategies for improving CSGs' thermal environments. The use of renewable energy in CSGs has a great deal of potential to improve in order to improve thermal environmen.
