Energy Systems And Applications In Agriculture

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.

The agri-food chain consumes about one third of the world’s energy production with about 12% of it for crop production and nearly 80% for processing, distribution, retail, preparation and cooking. The agri-food chain also accounts for 80-90% of total global freshwater use where 70% alone is for irrigation. Additionally, on a global scale, freshwater production consumes nearly 15% of the entire energy production. It can therefore be argued that making agriculture and the agri-food supply chain independent from fossil fuel use has a huge potential to contribute to global food security and climate protection not only for the next decades but also for the coming century. Provision of secure, accessible and environmentally sustainable supplies of water, energy and food must thus be a priority. One of the major objectives of the world’s scientists, farmers, decisions makers and industrialists is to overcome the present dependence on fossil fuels in the agro-food sector. This dependency increases the volatility of food prices and affects economic access to sustenance. This book provides a critical review of recent developments in solar, wind and geothermal energy applications in agriculture and the agro-food sector such as processing, distribution, retail, preparation and cooking.

Solar Energy Advancements in Agriculture and Food Production Systems aims to assist society and agricultural communities in different regions and scales to improve their productivity and sustainability. Solar energy, with its rapidly growing technologies and nascent market, has shown promise for integration into a variety of agricultural activities, providing an alternative, sustainable solution to current practices. To meet the future demands of modern sustainable agriculture, this book addresses the major existing problems by providing innovative, effective, and sustainable solutions using environment-friendly, advanced, energy-efficient, and cost-optimized solar energy technologies. This comprehensive book is intended to serve as a practical guide for scientists, engineers, policymakers, and stakeholders involved in agriculture and related primary industries, as well as sustainable energy development, and climate change mitigation projects. By including globally implemented solar-based agriculture projects in each chapter and highlighting the key associated challenges and benefits, it aims to bridge the knowledge gap between the market/real-world applications and research in the field. Provides up-to-date knowledge and recent advances in applications of solar energy technology in agriculture and food production Introduces two advanced concepts of agrivoltaics and aquavoltaics and addresses their potentials, challenges, and barriers Explains the application of solar energy technologies in agricultural systems, including greenhouse cultivation, water pumping and irrigation, desalination, heating and cooling, and drying Explains the use of solar energy in agricultural automation and robotics, considering precision agriculture and smart farming application Describes new applications of solar energy in agriculture and aquaculture, and technoeconomic and environmental impacts of solar energy technologies in agriculture and food production

This is the 4th volume in an international energy reference book series aimed at bringing together, in a concise form, the basic principles and the most relevant data concerning both the efficient use of energy in agriculture and the food industry and alternative energy sources for agriculture. The theme of this volume is solar energy applications in agriculture. Since the 1960's the major industrial nations have faced an energy crisis; there is a realisation that fossil fuels exist in finite quantitities. In the 1970's and 80's, deposits of CO 2 in the atmosphere have increased, arguably resulting in an increase in global warming. Utilisation of solar energy could contribute to the improvement of man's standard of living while helping to decrease the potential for disasterous earth warming. The application of solar energy in agriculture is, in the main, environmentally benign. The purpose of this volume is to assist the solar energy system designer in understanding the principles of solar energy, to provide conceptual designs which are useful as application examples, and to provide specific equations and data for the design of specific applications.

The increased efficiency and profitability that the proper application of technology can provide has made precision agriculture the hottest developing area within traditional agriculture. The first single-source volume to cover GIS applications in agronomy, GIS Applications in Agriculture examines ways that this powerful technology can help farmers

This book examines the characteristics and opportunities for farm energy in the northeast quadrant of the United States, with attention to energy use, strategic energy management, and energy production by solar, wind, biomass, and other means. Throughout, the distinct characteristics of the region and their impact on energy solutions are discussed, and the outlook for future energy strategies is considered. Farm energy production and use are topics of increasing interest, as the need for improved efficiency and the opportunity for sustainable energy production both drive agricultural enterprises to reduce energy use and pursue opportunities for renewable energy production and use on the farm. However, the unique regional characteristics of agriculture make it challenging to apply a single approach to all situations.

The book focuses on all the possible options of solar energy use and generation in Agriculture sector. The book covers basic fundamentals of solar energy resources and technologies are discussed in detail. Overall, the book contains 23 chapters. Out of these, first two chapters focus on solar energy use pattern in agriculture sector in India at present time along with future scopes. The next eight chapters (Chapter No. 3-10) give a basic knowledge on fundamental principles of solar photovoltaic and thermal technologies. Last 13 chapters (Chapter No. 11-23) presents the applications of solar thermal and photovoltaic technology in different farm operations and postharvest processing in agriculture sector. The book will cater the needs for students, researchers, various stakeholders, entrepreneurs etc by providing valuable information on solar energy and its applications specifically focusing on agriculture.

In its continuing efforts to improve production and storage , European agriculture and food industry consumes ever more energy. Hence, as was the case for all European sectors founded on intensive energy consump tion, agriculture was also severely affected by the shortages and price increases of conventional energy sources over the past decade. The energy consciousness generated in this way led to a widespread con sideration of the application of other, renewable energy sources. The potential applications in agriculture are, however, extremely diverse, and this explains to a great extent the fragmentary nature and even in some cases the mediocre level of current research. The objective of this book is, therefore, to guide the reader in a syste matic way through the apparent chaos of operational data which are currently available on the subject matter: thermal applications within agriculture of solar energy by means of solar collectors, passive designs and storage devices. While in volume I of this series H this area is assessed from a more general economic perspective, this tome II takes a more detailed technical approach. The results of this book were produced in the form of a European concerted action under the leadership of the Commission in Brussels. All possible data were collected by national representatives in the EC member countries. Coordinators were Professor V. Goedseels and Mr E. Van der Stuyft from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Professor G.