scholarly journals Creation of Net Zero Carbon Emissions Agricultural Greenhouses Due to Energy Use in Mediterranean Region; Is it Feasible?

2020 ◽  
pp. 89-95
Author(s):  
John Vourdoubas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Renewable Energies ◽  
Solar Pv ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Mediterranean Countries

Mitigation of climate change requires the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere and the increasing use of renewable energies replacing fossil fuels. Agricultural greenhouses are energy-intensive agricultural systems using mainly fossil fuels. The use of renewable energies during their operation is limited so far. The possibility of using renewable energies for covering their energy needs has been investigated, focused on the Mediterranean region. Various sustainable energy technologies which are reliable, mature, cost-effective and broadly used in various applications are examined. These include solar-PV systems, low enthalpy geothermal energy, solid biomass burning, co-generation systems, high efficiency heat pumps and reuse of rejected industrial heat. Combined use of these systems in greenhouses can cover all their energy requirements in heat, cooling and electricity, reducing or zeroing their net CO2 emissions into the atmosphere due to operational energy use. It is concluded that depending on their local availability in Mediterranean countries, these benign energy technologies can assist greenhouse crop growers in the reduction of their carbon emissions, contributing in the achievement of the universal goal for climate change mitigation.

scholarly journals Overview of the Use of Sustainable Energies in Agricultural Greenhouses

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Vourdoubas
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Heat Pumps ◽  
Renewable Energies ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Renewable Energy Resources ◽  
Energy Technologies

<p>Global concern on environmental problems like climate changes has altered our energy patterns promoting non-polluting renewable energies instead of fossil fuels. Technological advances in sustainable energy technologies allow their increasing use in all sectors of everyday life. Agricultural greenhouses utilize energy for heating, cooling and operation of various electric devices. The highest amount of energy used in greenhouses is consumed in heating them. Controlling crops growth conditions including temperature results in higher productivity and in better economic results. Various sustainable energies including renewable energies and high efficiency and low carbon energy technologies have been used in commercial scale and the technical and economic viability of others has been investigated in experimental scale. Among renewable energies solar energy, biomass and geothermal energy can be used in order to cover part or all of the energy requirements for heating, cooling and power generation of greenhouses. Energy efficient and low carbon technologies like co-generation of heat and power, heat pumps, fuel cells but also waste heat can be used also for energy generation in them. Governmental energy incentives for the promotion of sustainable energies like feed-in tariffs or net-metering allow the use of the abovementioned energy technologies for electricity generation in greenhouses offering additional economic benefits to the farmers. Use of the sustainable energies which are mature, reliable and cost effective in greenhouses results in mitigation of climate changes, use of local renewable energy resources instead of fossil fuels and better profitability of the cultivated crop.</p>

scholarly journals The Impact of Climate Change on the Value of Growing Maize as a Biofuel

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Sally Olasogba ◽  
Les DUCKERS
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Farm Management ◽  
Energy Output ◽  
Net Energy ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
The Impact

Abstract: Aim: According to COP23, Climate Change threatens the stability of the planet’s ecosystems, with a tipping point believed to be at only +2°C.  With the burning of fossil fuels, held responsible for the release of much of the greenhouse gases, a sensible world- wide strategy is to replace fossil fuel energy sources with renewable ones. The renewable resources such as wind, hydro, geothermal, wave and tidal energies are found in particular geographical locations whereas almost every country is potentially able to exploit PV and biomass. This paper examines the role that changing climate could have on the growing and processing of biomass. The primary concern is that future climates could adversely affect the yield of crops, and hence the potential contribution of biomass to the strategy to combat climate change. Maize, a C4 crop, was selected for the study because it can be processed into biogas or other biofuels. Four different Nigerian agricultural zones growing maize were chosen for the study. Long-term weather data was available for the four sites and this permitted the modelling of future climates. Design / Research methods: The results of this study come from modelling future climates and applying this to crop models. This unique work, which has integrated climate change and crop modelling to forecast yield and carbon emissions, reveals how maize responds to the predicted increased temperature, change in rainfall, and the variation in weather patterns. In order to fully assess a biomass crop, the full energy cycle and carbon emissions were estimated based on energy and materials inputs involved in farm management: fertilizer application, and tillage type. For maize to support the replacement strategy mentioned above it is essential that the ratio of energy output to energy input exceeds 1, but of course it should be as large as possible. Conclusions / findings: Results demonstrate that the influence of climate change is important and in many scenarios, acts to reduce yield, but that the negative effects can be partially mitigated by careful selection of farm management practices. Yield and carbon footprint is particularly sensitive to the application rate of fertilizer across all locations whilst climate change is the causal driver for the increase in net energy and carbon footprint at most locations. Nonetheless, in order to ensure a successful strategic move towards a low carbon future, and sustainable implementation of biofuel policies, this study provides valuable information for the Nigerian government and policy makers on potential AEZs to cultivate maize under climate change. Further research on the carbon footprint of alternative bioenergy feedstock to assess their environmental carbon footprint and net energy is strongly suggested. Originality / value of the article: This paper extends the review on the impact of climate change on maize production to include future impacts on net energy use and carbon footprint using a fully integrated assessment framework. Most studies focus only on current farm energy use and historical climate change impact on farm GHG emissions.   

scholarly journals Contribution of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) in Climate Resilient Approach and SDG 7

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-401
Author(s):  
Ram Chandra Khanal ◽  
Shree Raj Shakya ◽  
Tri Ratna Bajracharya
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Local Context ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Solar Pv ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Ghg Mitigation ◽  
Renewable Energy Technologies ◽  
Energy Technologies

Renewable energy can contribute to adaptation to climate change, mitigation and development and may play an important role in resilient development ambition of Nepal. It has been emphasized in Nepal's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and climate change policy but its potential impact on SDGs era has not been fully explored and implemented. The study used employed energy system modelling by using optimization software, reviewed literature and interacted with various experts. It has been found that renewable energy technologies (RETs) provide socio-economic and environmental benefits to people that contribute to adopting and ensuring a better adaptation to climate change based on the local context. They contribute to adaptation processes by contributing to reducing the vulnerability of people, improving adaptive capacity, and minimizing climate change risk in line with SDG 7. But these are not without challenges either. Financial, technical, institutional, policy and legal issues are major challenges to promote RETs. This study shows that theoretically altogether 4.45 million tons of CO2e of the GHG emission can be mitigated per year if all the remaining technical potential of deploying seven major RETs consisting of biogas, improved water mill, stand-alone micro-hydro plants, mini-grid micro-hydro plants, solar PV home systems, mud-ICS and metal-ICS were installed after 2012. Considering the average annual installation of these RETs, altogether 30.71 million tons of CO2e can be mitigated between the periods of 2013 to 2030 at an annual additional installation equal to average installation done in recent past three years. The initial technology investment required for implementing the above mentioned RETs ranges from NRs 97 to NRs 23,247 per ton of CO2e mitigation. This indicates that though a moderate level of the initial investment is required for promoting RETs, the GHG mitigation potential seems to be quite promising. There is no liberty of inaction, so RETs can be a good case for a triple win strategy to address mitigation – adaptation – development nexus for climate compatible development in Nepal.

scholarly journals Dematerialization Through Services: Evaluating the Evidence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blair Fix
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Fossil Fuel Consumption ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
Sustainability Policy ◽  
Service Transition

Dematerialization through services is a popular proposal for reducing environmental impact. The idea is that by shifting from the production of goods to the provision of services, a society can reduce its material demands. But do societies with a larger service sector actually dematerialize? I test the `dematerialization through services' hypothesis with a focus on fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions --- the primary drivers of climate change. I find no evidence that a service transition leads to carbon dematerialization. Instead, a larger service sector is associated with greater use of fossil fuels and greater carbon emissions per person. This suggests that `dematerialization through services' is not a valid sustainability policy.

scholarly journals Energy Accounting for a Renewable Energy Future

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 4280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moriarty ◽  
Honnery
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Energy Accounting ◽  
Will Force ◽  
To Come

For millennia, humans relied almost entirely on renewable energy (RE), largely biomass, for their energy needs. Over the past century, fossil fuels (FFs) have not only largely replaced RE, but have enabled a many-fold rise in total energy use. This FF dominance changed the way we think about and accounted for energy use. If (as at present) the world essentially continues to ignore climate change, eventual resource depletion will force conversion to RE and, perhaps, nuclear energy will once again have to provide most of the world’s energy use. However, the change is more likely to come about because of the urgent need for climate change mitigation. At present, primary RE electricity accounting is done by calculating the FF energy that would be needed to produce it. But as FFs disappear, this approach makes less sense. Instead, a new approach to energy accounting will be needed, one that allows for the intermittent nature of the two most abundant RE sources, wind and solar power. Surplus intermittent RE might be converted to H2, further complicating energy accounting. An additional complication will be the treatment of energy reductions, especially from passive solar energy, likely to be more important in the coming decades. This paper is a review of the evidence to try to determine the best approach to future energy accounting.

The Tourism Sector's Impact on Carbon Emissions

2021 ◽  
pp. 40-66
Author(s):  
Gülsüm Akarsu ◽  
Fanny Saruchera
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Improvement Strategy ◽  
Green Industry ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis

The tourism sector is generally perceived as a green industry because of its seemingly clean value chain activities. However, despite these perceptions, there have been doubts regarding the environmental impacts of tourism. Past studies have considered these environmental effects due to increasing concerns about global warming and climate change. This chapter attempts to analyze the effects of tourism value chain activities on carbon emissions in the context of the environmental Kuznets curve for G20 countries using a ten-year dataset. The results confirmed the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. The findings indicate that, despite increases in energy use and investment inflow, tourism activities decrease carbon emissions. The study concluded that tourism sector activities, foreign trade, and labor force participation all have statistically significant favorable effects on carbon emissions. Given the growing global transitions within the sector, the study reckons the sector's need to focus on sustainable tourism as a development and improvement strategy.

scholarly journals Energy Efficiency or Conservation for Mitigating Climate Change?

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 3543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Moriarty ◽  
Damon Honnery
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Passenger Transport ◽  
Domestic Energy ◽  
To Come

Given that global energy use today is still dominated by fossil fuels, there is an urgent need to rapidly reduce its use in order to avert serious climate change. However, the alternatives to fossil fuels—renewable and nuclear energy—are more expensive, and have so far done little to displace fossil fuels. Accordingly, reducing energy use must play an important part in both averting climate change and avoiding the depletion of high energy return easily recoverable fossil fuel reserves. This paper examined both the potential and barriers to the adoption of energy reduction measures, with particular attention to domestic energy and passenger transport. The main finding was that energy efficiency approaches alone are unlikely to deliver anywhere near the energy reductions needed in the limited time available. Instead, most energy reductions will have to come from energy conservation, involving less use of energy-using devices, including private vehicles. Achieving such reductions will require changes in lifestyles, especially for residents of OECD nations.

scholarly journals GREEN ENERGY: AN ANALYTICAL DISCOURSE

2015 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Baluch ◽  
S. Mohtar ◽  
A. S. Ariffin
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
To Come

The climate change, the global warming, the population growth and the continuous demand on energy and electricity in specific made renewable energy one of the most appropriate and fitting to answer all these changes of our environment. However, the vested interested groups belonging to the fossil fuel cartel continue working tirelessly to discourage the use of renewable energy and renewable energy solutions in the world. Despite the recusant efforts of the Oil Cartel, renewable energy use has grown much faster than anyone anticipated. This paper: defines green and renewable energy; highlights its benefits; and illustrates that clean energy technologies are prepared for accelerated and widespread expansion in the global power sector. The paper critically examines the recusant efforts of the Oil Cartel undermining green renewable energy sector by bankrolling the production of unconventional oil and gas; and demonstrates that over-reliance on fossil fuels for power generation has significant health, environmental, and economic risks and is not a long-term solution to our energy needs. The paper concludes that a global transition to renewable energy is already underway. Renewable Energy offers an alternative to conventional sources and grants us greater control over future energy prices and supply. The energy choices we make during this pivotal moment will have huge consequences for our health, our climate, and our economy for decades to come.

scholarly journals Going Green with Policy Incentives: Comparing the Use of Subsidies and Taxes to Reduce Transportation Emissions

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda Hines
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Road ◽  
Transportation Sector ◽  
Transportation Emissions ◽  
Policy Challenge ◽  
Reduce Emissions

This article addresses the need for the United States to reduce emissions from the transportation sector. In order to concisely evaluate the political discussion of promoting renewable energy use and discouraging reliance on fossil fuels, this article focuses on the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles as a means of illustrating the larger policy challenge of how to maximize policy effectiveness at reducing emissions while minimizing economic disruption. The article estimates the magnitude of electric and gas-powered vehicles purchases in response to either a subsidy or a tax and discusses the positive and negative outcomes of each policy approach. The article finds that while a tax on carbon emissions may be most effective in removing gas-powered vehicles from the road, it will disproportionately affect lower-income households. Implementing substantial subsidies for electric vehicles, funded through a smaller tax on carbon emissions, is suggested as a solution to reduce the regressive impacts of a standalone carbon tax.

scholarly journals Analysis of the evolution in current biomass to energy strategies, policy and regulations in Spain

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 374-383 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Renewable Energies ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
General View ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

Global warming is one of the most serious challenges facing humankind as it has the potential to dramatically modify the living conditions of future generations. In order to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, most countries are implementing regulations aimed at reducing their dependence on fossil fuels, promoting energy efficiency practices and favoring the deployment of low carbon energy technologies, including renewable energy sources. In line with the international commitments assumed as a member of the European Union (EU) and also as a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, Spain developed a National Plan for Renewable Energies (PER 2005-2010) that forms the basis of the national strategy in this field. Spain has often been cited as an example for the rapid growth in the use of low carbon energy technologies. However, despite significant progress in the last decade, Spain is far from meeting the national objectives set in PER primarily due to slow growth in the demand for biofuels and the limited success of biomass fired power plants. The evolution in other energy technologies has been faster, situating Spain as world a leader in solar and wind energy. However, the contribution of these technologies to the national consumption is very marginal. In the midst of intense regulatory, commercial and R&D activity, this paper analyses the current situation with respect to the production of renewable energies in Spain, focusing primarily on the use of biomass resources. The paper offers a general view of policy and regulatory background, illustrates current progress towards meeting national objectives and provides a brief description of representative projects and market activity in biofuel production and biomass valorization.

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