Renewable Energy for Sustainable Agriculture Biomass, Solar, Wind

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Renewable Energy for Sustainable
AgricultureBiomass, Solar, Wind

• Pavan Kumar Vummadi
• Laura Jean MacKay
• Collins Nwakanma Amanze
• January 18, 2005

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Presentation Outline

• Why agriculture?
• Agricultural context in Nigeria, India, Canada
• Renewable energy potential
• Biomass, solar and wind
• Applications and specific uses
• Sustainability analysis
• Policy and recommendations
• Questions and possible answers

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Why agriculture? India
Pavan
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Agricultural context in India

• Industrial agriculture (35) produces huge
  quantities of single species - crop or livestock
• Main crops are rice, wheat, and paddy
• Subsistence agriculture (65) produces only
  enough crops for immediate survival
• Employment in agriculture close to 65

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Major agricultural impacts on sustainability -
India

• Conventional agriculture uses chemical inputs for
  fertilizer and pesticides (SC2)
• Dependency on oil fuels to run heavy farm
  machinery (SC1)
• Monocultures compromise biodiversity and soil
  quality (SC3)
• Dependency on monsoons as water source

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Why agriculture? Nigeria
Collins
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Agricultural context in Nigeria

• 80 of the land is cultivable with rich soil,
  good rainfall, warm year-round temperatures
• Top crops include yams, cocoa, cashew nuts,
  cotton, groundnuts, kolanut, palm kernels
• Most agriculture is subsistence
• Employment in agriculture close to 70

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Major agricultural impacts on sustainability -
Nigeria

• Conventional agriculture uses chemical inputs for
  fertilizer and pesticides (SC2)
• Heavy dependency on oil fossil fuels to run heavy
  farm machinery (SC1)
• Monocultures compromise biodiversity and soil
  quality on plantations (SC3)

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Why agriculture? Canada
Laura
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Agricultural context in Canada

• Top crops are spring wheat, barley, alfalfa
• Trend toward raising more livestock
• Less farms, larger farms
• Most agriculture is industrial
• Most farms have significant woodlots
• Employment in agriculture close to 4

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Major agricultural impacts on sustainability -
Canada

• Conventional agriculture uses chemical inputs for
  fertilizer and pesticides (SC2)
• Heavy dependency on oil fuels to run heavy farm
  machinery (SC1), also transportation of farm
  products
• Monocultures compromise biodiversity and soil
  quality (SC3)
• Organic agriculture comprises 1.3 of total
  farming

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Renewable energy potential
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Renewable energy potential
Resource Reserve Reserve Reserve
Nigeria India Canada
Fuel wood 43 million tonnes n/a n/a
Animal waste and crop residue 144 million tonnes 1700 MW 32 million tonnes prairie grain straw
Solar 1.0 KW per square metre 20 MW per square km 12 MW PV installed
Wind 2.0-4.0 m/s 45,000 MW 439 MW installed 50,000 MW projected
Small scale hydro 734.2 MW 15,000 MW 2000 MW
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Biomass

• Biomass is all vegetable and animal matter used
  directly or converted to solid fuels, as well as
  biomass-derived gaseous and liquid fuels, and
  industrial and municipal waste converted into
  energy
• Biomass a green house gas emission neutral energy
  source

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Biomass

• In Austria, there has been an increase in the use
  of biomass for district heating by a factor of
  six, and in Sweden by factor of eight during the
  last ten years
• In France, 5 of heat used for space heating is
  produced from biomass
• In Finland, bio-energy already contributes about
  18 of total energy production and the aim is to
  further increase this to 28 in 2025

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Biomass

• Heat energy generation from the biological
  decomposition process various methods
• Microorganisms break down organic matter and
  produce carbon dioxide, water, heat, and humus, a
  relatively stable organic end product
• Energy balance for cellulose based material much
  higher than other crops

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Solar

• Two systems conversion of solar energy
• DC power (photovoltaic)
• heat (passive solar)
• Solar PV panels have long duration, no moving
  parts, easy to install, less maintenance, no
  fluids, produce no pollution and consume no fuels

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Solar

• Sunlight is converted to electricity using PV
  cells
• PV cells are semi-conductor devices, usually made
  of silicon
• PV cells are usually 10 by 10 cm, and generate ½
  volt of electricity
• Commercially available PV cells convert only
  12-15 of suns energy

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Wind

• Source of wind energy
• - solar
• Prevailing Wind Directions
• Latitude 90-60 60-30 30-0 N0-30 S 30- 60
  60-90
• N N N
  S S
• Direction NE SW NE SE
  NW SE
• Wind obstacles
• buildings, trees, rock formations can
  decrease wind speed

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Wind

• A wind turbine converts the force of the wind
  into a torgue (turbine force) action on rotor
  blades
• Power output depends on size of the blades and
  wind speed through the rotor
• Wind turbines are optimally installed on towers
  30ft above any obstacle within 300ft
• The energy produced by a wind turbine throughout
  its 20 year lifetime (in an average location) is
  eighty times larger than the amount of energy
  used to build, maintain, operate, dismantle, and
  scrapping it again.
• Technical capacity currently could capture 10 of
  available wind energy

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What does Sustainable Agriculture look like with
Renewable Energy?
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Agricultural applications wind in Nigeria

• Water pumping
• Electricity generation
• Grinding grains and legumes

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Agricultural applications solar in India

• Water pumping
• Drip- and micro-irrigation coincide well with the
  characteristics of PV pumping
• Growing gap between electricity generation
  capacity and demand
• 1992 demonstration programme for solar PV pumps
  for agriculture and other uses was introduced by
  the MNES

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Agricultural applications solar in India

• Livestock watering
• Effective watering systems protect watercourses
  and improve the availability of good quality
  water
• PV pumping for cattle-watering is good option for
  off-grid areas
• PV systems have the advantages of mobility,
  little maintenance and no need for supervision or
  fuel supply

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Agricultural applications solar in India

• Aquaculture
• Aquaculture production in developing countries
  has been growing more than five times as fast as
  in developed countries
• Much of the power demand is at present provided
  by diesel generators, which are ecological
  hazards, especially close to vulnerable aquatic
  eco-systems
• For small applications (aeration pumps) PV can be
  an economic solution

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Agricultural applications biomass in Canada

• Greenhouse Production
• Canada's greenhouse vegetable industry 3 billion
  in Canadian economic activity
• System that can extract heat energy from biomass
  pile to support an environment that will maintain
  and promote plant life within a greenhouse

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Agricultural applications biomass in Canada

• Fuel for farm machinery Heating for buildings

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Sustainability Analysis Biomass in Canada

• Environmental Impact
• Social acceptability and Technological
  appropriateness
• Economic feasibility

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Environmental Impact

• SC3
• Land use balancing the use of best land for
  food production green cachement areas, also
  wildlife. Biomass energy proponents argue that it
  is possible to grow and harvest bioenergy crops
  on an economically and ecologically sustainable
  basis on lands that have marginal agricultural
  value
• Use of GMOs as biomass crops
• Mono-cropping effect on biodiversity
• SC2
• Large scale agriculture use of pesticide and
  fertilizer
• SC1
• Large scale agriculture use of fossil fuels

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Social AcceptabilityTechnological Appropriateness

• Food quality
• Food security
• Conventional methods of agriculture farm workers
  exposure to harmful materials, pesticides and
  fertilizers
• Development of GMOs
• Wood smoke contains many hazardous compounds and
  particulates
• Decentralised source of energy, social stability
  at the regional level

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Economic Feasibility

• Use biomass materials available on or nearby farm
  space
• Use lowest level of technology delivering energy
  requirement for buildings and machinery
• Build in time and budget for training in
  operation of technology
• For a typical commercial 10 acre greenhouse farm
  in Essex County, experiencing annual heating
  costs of 500,000, the projected return on
  investment for an Agrilab heating system, in an
  average weather growing season, is 2-3 growing
  seasons

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Sustainability Analysis Solar in India

• Environmental Impact
• Social acceptability
• and Technology appropriateness
• Economic feasibility

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Sustainability Analysis Solar in India

• Environmental Impact
• Air Pollution
• Global Warming
• Clean Energy Pay-Back
• Manufacturing and Production Implications
• PV Panel Disposal and Recycling-LCA

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Sustainability Analysis Solar in India

• Social Acceptability
• Technological Appropriateness
• Climate
• Simple Technology
• Quality of Crops

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Sustainability Analysis Solar in India

• Economic Feasibility
• Investment costs in PV systems are high
• The economic viability of PV systems is much
  higher when they can displace an extension to a
  distribution line
• Operating costs are very low, as there are no
  fueling costs

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Sustainability Analysis Wind in Nigeria

• Environmental impact
• Economic feasibility
• Social and Cultural acceptability
• Technology appropriateness

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Sustainability Analysis Wind in Nigeria

• Environmental impact
• It is pollution free reduces air pollution
• Reduces concentrations of C02 , SO2, NOX
• It doesnt produce toxic or radioactive waste
• It could be noisy and contribute to visual
  pollution
• When large arrays of wind turbines are installed
  on farmland, only about 2 of the land area is
  required for the wind turbines

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Sustainability Analysis Wind in Nigeria

• Economic feasibility
• Generates income
• Operational and maintenance cost is low.
• Zero input fuel cost
• It is domestic reduces the need for importation
  like in fossil fuels
• It can help create jobs
• High cost of installation

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Sustainability Analysis Wind in Nigeria

• Social and Cultural acceptability
• Low level of awareness among people
• Tension over land between land owners and
  government
• Technological appropriateness
• Great to medium wind energy potential
• Good terrain for turbine installation
• Lack of spare parts
• Lack of skilled technical experts to repair
  turbine when damaged

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Policy and recommendations -Nigeria

• To develop, promote and harness the Renewable
  Energy resources of the country and incorporate
  all viable ones the national energy mix
• To promote decentralized energy supply,
  especially in rural areas, based on RE resources
• To de-emphasize and discourage the use of wood as
  fuel
• To promote efficient methods in the use Wind
  energy resources
• To keep abreast of international developments in
  RE technologies and applications

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Policy and recommendations - India

• MNES should support training programmes on
  operation and maintenance and water management
  aspects of the PV pumping systems
• More subsidies should be introduced to PV systems
  of agriculture
• Coordinate policies with neighbouring countries
  for exploitation of energy resources
• Develop a long-term (25 years) technology vision
  with time-bound goals
• R,DD of identified technologies

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Policy and recommendations - Canada

• In Europe and elsewhere, a new purpose needs to
  be found for land taken out of production
  production of biomass materials, wind farms and
  solar installation
• If biomass is to be produced on a large scale,
  must be combined with sustainability analysis
• Recommend training programs in operation of
  biomass technology
• Subsidy programs to introduce the technology on
  farms

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Questions and possible answers

• ?