Transcript Renewable Energy for Sustainable Agriculture Biomass, Solar, Wind Pavan Kumar Vummadi

Renewable Energy for
Sustainable Agriculture
Biomass, Solar, Wind
Pavan Kumar Vummadi
Laura Jean MacKay
Collins Nwakanma Amanze
January 18, 2005
Presentation Outline
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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
Why agriculture? India
Pavan
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%
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
Why agriculture? Nigeria
Collins
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%
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)
Why agriculture? Canada
Laura
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%
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
Renewable energy potential
Renewable energy potential
Reserve
Resource
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 20 MW per square 12 MW PV
metre
km
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
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
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
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
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
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 sun’s
energy
Wind
• Source of wind energy
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- 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
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
What does Sustainable Agriculture
look like with Renewable Energy?
Agricultural applications –
wind in Nigeria
• Water pumping
• Electricity generation
• Grinding grains and legumes
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
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
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
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
Agricultural applications –
biomass in Canada
Fuel for farm machinery
Heating for buildings
Sustainability Analysis –
Biomass in Canada
• Environmental Impact
• Social acceptability
and Technological
appropriateness
• Economic feasibility
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
Social Acceptability
Technological Appropriateness
• Food quality
• Food security
• Conventional methods of agriculture –farm
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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
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
Sustainability Analysis –
Solar in India
• Environmental Impact
• Social acceptability
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and Technology
appropriateness
Economic feasibility
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
Sustainability Analysis –
Solar in India
Social Acceptability
Technological Appropriateness:
• Climate
• Simple Technology
• Quality of Crops
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
Sustainability Analysis –
Wind in Nigeria
• Environmental impact
• Economic feasibility
• Social and Cultural
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acceptability
Technology
appropriateness
Sustainability Analysis –
Wind in Nigeria
• Environmental impact
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It is pollution free: reduces air pollution
Reduces concentrations of C02 , SO2, NOX
It doesn´t 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
Sustainability Analysis –
Wind in Nigeria
• Economic feasibility
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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
Sustainability Analysis –
Wind in Nigeria
• Social and Cultural acceptability
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Low level of awareness among people
Tension over land between land owners and government
Technological appropriateness
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Great to medium wind energy potential
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Good terrain for turbine installation
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Lack of spare parts
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Lack of skilled technical experts to repair turbine when
damaged
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
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,D&D of identified technologies
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
Questions and possible answers
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