ABSTRACT The bioclimatic architecture can contribute significantly to moderate thermal environment of agricultural installations, reducing the energy input used in the air conditioning. The present article presents the results of a diagnosis made in packing houses of table grapes, located in a semi - arid region in the Brazilian Northeast. The objective was to verify which strategies of the bioclimatic architecture were applied in the buildings, and also, to propose recommendations for future projects. The methodology consisted of the elaboration of a checklist, from the application of the Mahoney Method and the Brazilian Bioclimatic Zoning, considering Petrolina - PE climate. The checklist was applied in twenty-five packing houses, of three different sizes. It was concluded that the bioclimatic architectural strategies were applied in an isolated way in the buildings. Therefore, the bioclimatic architectural strategies were not effective in the thermal efficiency of the buildings, and the packing houses of small rural producers were the most inappropriate.

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to characterize the thermal environment of the sorting and packing sectors of small, medium and large packing houses in the São Francisco Valley, Northeast of Brazil. Micrometeorological data were monitored every 15 minutes for 20 days during winter 2014 and summer 2015. The parameters evaluated were air temperature (°C), relative humidity (%) and radiant thermal load, RTL,(W/m2). External environmental data were obtained from weather stations close to the packing houses. The data obtained show that packing houses minimum and maximum temperatures were reached at 6am and 3pm, respectively, during winter and summer. Both seasons had air temperatures above 20°C, relative humidity below 90% and radiant thermal load above 450 W/m2. The construction materials that had the highest energy transmissions were the roofs. Metal roofs had the worst thermal conditioning, resulting in maximum internal air temperatures of 32.7°C and minimum relative humidity of 40.9% at 3pm, during summer. According to the results, thermal environments of sorting and packing sectors proved to be inadequate for processing table grapes, mainly during summer. These packing houses should be modified to reach the optimal thermal environment, considering the regional climatic conditions.