Climate change in the planet is currently creating many environmental,
economic and social problems which are probably going to multiply in the
near future. Reduction of greenhouse gases emitted from fossil fuels
could result in the mitigation of greenhouse effect and the climate
change. Agricultural greenhouses consume large amounts of energy mainly
derived from fossil fuels, for the cultivation of various crops.
Reduction of their carbon footprint is of primary importance to day. In
order to investigate the possibilities of reducing their carbon
footprint, the energy consumption during their operation has been
estimated and the sustainable energy technologies which could be used
for substitution of fossil fuels used have been analyzed. It has been
found that a modern greenhouse located in Mediterranean region with a
covered area of 1,000 m2 and a total annual energy consumption of 200
KWh/m2 emits 76,900 kg CO2 per year. Total elimination of their CO2
emissions could be achieved with the investment of 44,000 € in renewable
energy technologies, including solid biomass for heating and solar-PV
for power generation and resulting in lower energy cost during their
operation. The payback time of the abovementioned investments has been
estimated at 4.84 years.
Contribution/ Originality
The study contributes in the existing literature regarding the
improvement of the sustainability in agricultural greenhouses. It
indicates the possibility of using various renewable energy sources
instead of fossil fuels for covering their energy requirements resulting
in zeroing their CO2 emissions due to energy use in them.
Keywords:
Agricultural greenhouses, Carbon footprint, CO2 emissions, Energy consumption, Energy saving, Renewable energy.
Bailey, B.J., 1981. The reduction of thermal radiation in glasshouses by thermals screens. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Resources, 26(3): 215-224. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Banaeian, N., M. Omid and H. Ahmadi, 2011. Energy and economic analysis of greenhouse strawberry production in Tehran Province of Iran. Energy Conversion and Management, 52(2): 1020-1025.View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Bibbiani, C., F. Fantozzi, C. Gergari, C.A. Campiotti, E. Schettini and G. Vox, 2016. Wood biomass as sustainable energy for greenhouses heating in Italy. Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia, 8: 637-645. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Bredenbeck, H., 1992. The use of waste heat from a power plant for greenhouse heating in commercial application in Germany. Acta Horticulturae, 312: 29-36. View at Publisher
Canakci, M. and J. Akinci, 2006. Energy use pattern analyses of greenhouse vegetable production. Energy, 31(8): 1243-1256. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Djevic, M. and A. Dimitrijevic, 2009. Energy efficiency for different greenhouse constructions. Energy, 34(9): 1325-1331. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Hatirli, S.A., B. Ozkan and C. Fert, 2006. Energy inputs and crops yield relationship in greenhouse tomato production. Renewable Energy, 31(4): 427-438. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Heidari, M.D. and M. Omid, 2011. Energy use patterns and econometric models of major greenhouse vegetable productions in Iran. Energy, 36(1): 220-225. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Mohhamadi, A. and M. Omid, 2010. Economic analysis and relation between energy inputs and yield of greenhouse cucumber production in Iran. Applied Energy, 87(1): 191-196. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Ozkan, B., A. Kurklu and H. Akcaoz, 2004. An input-output energy analysis in greenhouse vegetable production: A case study for Antalya region in Turkey. Biomass and Bioenergy, 26(1): 89-95. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Perry, S., J. Klemes and I. Bulatov, 2008. Integrating waste and renewable energy to reduce the carbon footprint of locally integrated energy sectors. Energy, 33(10): 1489-1497. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Sanford, S., 2011. Reducing greenhouse energy consumption-an overview energy efficiency in greenhouses. University of Wisconsin-Madison ( A3907-01). Retrieved from https://articles.extension.org/sites/default/files/2.%20A3907-01.pdf [Accessed 28/11/2016].
Sgroi, F., S. Tudisca, A.M. Di Trapani, R. Testa and R. Squatrito, 2014. Efficacy and efficiency of Italian energy policy : The case of PV systems in greenhouse farms. Energies, 7(6): 3985-4001. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Tantau, H.J., 1998. Energy saving potential of greenhouse climate control. Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 48(1): 93-101. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Vourdoubas, J., 2015. Economic and environmental assessment of the use of renewable energies in greenhouses: A case study in crete-Greece. Journal of Agricultural Science, 7(10): 48-57.View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Vourdoubas, J., 2015. Overview of heating greenhouses with renewable energy sources. A case study in crete-Greece. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, 4(1): 70-76. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Vourdoubas, J., 2016. Overview of the use of sustainable energies in agricultural greenhouses. Journal of Agricultural Science, 8(3): 36-43. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Zhang , Y., I. Gauthier, D. De Halleux, B. Dansereau and A. Gosselin, 1996. Effect of covering materials on energy consumption and greenhouse microclimate. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 82(1-4): 227-244.View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher
Statistics:
Search :
Funding:
This study received no specific financial support.
Competing Interests:
The author declares that there are no conflicts of interests regarding the publication of this paper.
Click to View
Click to View
Click to View