Energy Efficient Systems For Agricultural Applications

This book reports thermodynamic investigation, analyses, and options of temperature/humidity control systems and their technologies for agricultural applications including (but not limited to) fruits and vegetable storage, poultry air-conditioning, livestock thermal comfort, and wet market air-conditioning. The optimum temperature and humidity requirements for these agricultural applications are identified. Consequently, energy-efficient heat pump options are explored accordingly. The book helps to understand and to apply the thermodynamic knowledge of the energy-efficient systems for agricultural applications.

We are entering a new era in production agronomics. Agricultural scientists the world over call for the development of techniques that simultaneously increase soil carbon storage and reduce agriculture’s energy use. In response, site-specific or precision agriculture has become the focus and direction for the three motivating forces that are changing agriculture today: the expanding capacity of personal computers, the molecular biology revolution, and the recent developments in information technology such as the increasing use of geographical information systems (GIS). Using mathematics, technology, and creativity, GIS Applications in Agriculture, Volume Two: Nutrient Management for Energy Efficiency examines the development of nutrient management practices that help producers improve their profitability and energy efficiency. Throughout the book, chapters demonstrate how complex mathematical and spatial modeling approaches can provide the basis for much of our present and certainly our future management practices. Highlighting recent successes and the nuts and bolts associated with implementing the proposed techniques, the book covers energy efficiency calculations, techniques for overcoming yield-limiting factors, soil information collection and analysis, and remote sensing for improving management decisions. It describes the development of an economically optimum site-specific corn plant population equation based on an experiment containing many field sites, the estimation of soil productivity and energy efficiency using online data sources, and the assessment and implementation of site-specific carbon and water management systems, analyzing energy efficiency of compost and manures. Emphasizing the mathematics that will enable producers to make full use of the technological advances made during the 21st century, GIS Applications in Agriculture, Volume Two holds the key to the successful, sustainable, and efficient production of food to feed the ever increasing world population.

Modern industrial agriculture is not sustainable because of its heavy reliance on petroleum, a non-renewable source of the energy used in farming, and because of pollution caused by petroleum products such as fertilizers and pesticides. A systems analysis of farming suggests that agriculture will be more sustainable when services of nature, such as nutrient recycling by soil micro-organisms and natural controls of insects, replace the services now provided by energy from petroleum. Examples are drawn from the Southeastern USA, but lessons learned can be applied worldwide.

Agriculture, as a production-oriented sector, entails energy as a substantial input by which global food security is ensured. Agricultural systems require energy for farm machinery and equipment; lighting; heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC); food processing and preservation; fertilizer and chemical production; and water/wastewater treatment/application. Increasing agriculture mechanization mitigates conventional energy reserves that escalate greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. This book aims to offer energy-efficient and/or environment-friendly ways for the agriculture sector to achieve the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The book provides cutting-edge research on next-generation agricultural technologies and applications to develop a sustainable solution for modern greenhouses, temperature/humidity control in agriculture, farm storage and drying, crop water requirements, agricultural built environment, and wastewater treatment.

Energy and agriculture; Options for change; Reducing direct uses of energy on farms; Reducing indirect uses of energy on farms; Meat, poultry, and dairy production; Urban agriculture.

It has been estimated that around 15% of global agricultural production costs on-farm are energy-related. With heightened concerns around the sustainability of crop and livestock production, the agricultural sector must develop and invest in alternative methods of farming that recoup the same results but have a reduced environmental impact. Energy-smart farming: Efficiency, renewable energy and sustainability reviews recent research undertaken on the ways of reducing the costs and environmental impact of on-farm energy use. The collection explores advances in improving energy efficiency on farms, the use of renewable energy technologies such as anaerobic digestion and agrivoltaics as well as how more sustainable energy use can be delivered in practice in livestock and other production systems.

Fundamentals of energy and agriculture, Energy in nonindustrial food and production systems, Energy use in industrialized food production, Agricultural energy analysis, Energy and economics, Energy requirements for agricultural inputs, Evaluation of alternatives, Evaluation of specific practices, New sources of energy, The future.