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, renewable energy technologies such as agrivoltaics, biomass combustion, gasification and pyrolysis, as well as how more sustainable energy use can be delivered in practice in livestock production systems.
Edited by a leading expert in the field, Energy-smart farming: Efficiency, renewable energy and sustainability will be a standard reference for university and other researchers in renewable energy deployment and policies, environmental scientists, government and other agencies tackling the challenge of climate change, as well as farmers and representatives from food manufacturers and suppliers dedicated to reducing their carbon footprint.
Author(s): Ralph E. H. Sims
Series: Burleigh Dodds Series in Agricultural Science, 115
Publisher: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 370
City: Sawston
Cover
Half title page
Series page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
Series list
Introduction
Part 1 Efficient use of electricity, heat, fuel and water
Part 2 On-farm renewable energy heat and power generation
Part 3 Energy-smart farming: case studies
Acknowledgement
Part 1: Efficient use of electricity, heat and fuel
Chapter 1 Measuring and auditing on-farm energy use
1 Introduction
2 Energy analysis in agriculture
3 Agriculture as an energy consumer
4 Case study: Energy consumption in wheat production using neural networks
5 Conclusions and future trends in research
6 Where to look for further information
7 References
Chapter 2 Advances in energy-efficient lighting and ventilation for food production systems
1 Introduction
2 Light sources: benefits and shortcomings
3 Energy savings
4 Shifting from incandescent to LED lamps
5 Issues with light dimmers
6 Novel ultraviolet (UV) technologies
7 Greenhouse and controlled environment lighting applications
8 Ventilation advances in livestock housing
9 Conclusion and future trends
10 Where to look for further information
11 References
Chapter 3 Improving farm machinery operation and maintenance to optimise fuel use efficiency
1 Introduction
2 Techniques for optimising tractor fuel consumption
3 Developments in fuel-efficient tractor design
4 Measuring tractor performance
5 Energy effects of farming systems: no-tillage and controlled traffic farming
6 Energy savings with controlled traffic farming systems
7 Other benefits of controlled traffic farming systems
8 Controlled traffic farming operations in complex topographies
9 Embodied energy
10 Future trends
11 References
Chapter 4 Efficient water management and irrigation on farms
1 Introduction
2 Water use for irrigation in agricultural production systems
3 Water use efficiency: innovation and adaptation
4 Challenges
5 Acknowledgements
6 Where to look for further information
7 References
Part 2: On-farm renewable energy heat and power generation
Chapter 5 Assessing and modelling the costs of on-farm distributed renewable energy systems
1 Introduction
2 Private costs of on-farm distributed generationrenewable energy systems
3 Social costs of energy
4 Risk analysis methods
5 Case study
6 Conclusion
7 Annex 1: Focus and methodologies for on-farm distributed renewable energy systems
8 Where to look for further information
9 References
Chapter 6 Energy-smart innovation and renewable energy systems on farms: an overview
1 Introduction
2 The use of energy efficiency to help decarbonise food production systems
3 Trends in renewable energy
Box 1
Box 2
4 Policies and measures to encourage the deployment of renewable energy on farms
5 Farm-scale renewable energy technologies and systems
Box 3
Box 4
Box 5
6 Conclusion
7 Where to look for further information
8 References
Chapter 7 On-farm biomass technologies for heat and power
1 Introduction
2 Primary energy conversion technologies: combustion, gasification and pyrolysis
3 Secondary energy conversion technologies: internal combustion engines, steam turbines, steam engines and Stirling engines
4 Secondary energy conversion technologies: indirectred gas turbines, direct-fired pressurised gas turbines, micro-turbines and
5 Cogeneration system analysis at the small scale
6 Case study: conversion of coal boilers to biomass in greenhouse enterprises
7 Conclusion
8 Where to look for further information
9 References
Chapter 8 Developments in agrivoltaics: achieving synergies by combining plants with solar photovoltaic power systems
1 Introduction
2 Design of agrivoltaic systems to maximise the synergy between energy and agricultural production
3 Physiological and agronomical aspects of crop cultivation under agrivoltaic systems
4 Crop modelling applications for the management of agrivoltaic systems
5 Conclusion and future trends in research
6 Where to look for further information
7 References
Part 3: Energy-smart farming: case studies
Chapter 9 Tools and technologies to reduce fossil energy use on dairy farms
1 Introduction
2 Energy monitoring
3 Energy modelling
4 Smart energy strategies
5 Case study: Dairy Energy Decision Support Tool
6 Conclusion and future trends
7 Where to look for further information
8 References
Chapter 10 Energy-smart pig farming
1 Introduction
2 Energy generation on pig farms
3 Feed energy related to pig production
4 Building design to improve energy efficiency
5 Practices to improve energy efficiency of existing buildings
6 Conclusion and future trends
7 Where to look for further information
8 Acknowledgement
9 References
Chapter 11 Energy-smart poultry farming
1 Introduction
2 Energy use
3 Energy conservation and energy efficiency opportunities
4 Renewable energy in poultry applications
5 Conclusion and future trends in research
6 Where to look for further information
7 References
Index
