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The interest of the countries with traditions of walnut cultivation to increase the quantity and quality of walnut production is due to the fact that the organic cultivation of walnut is a sustainable business, with an ecological, economic and social impact. The walnut plant (Juglans regia) is a resource for food, dermatocosmetic and phytotherapeutic products, is raw material in the wood industry and a source of biomass. It is a species suitable for organic farming, with no chemical factors input (in line with the EU program to reduce pesticide use and fuel consumption by 35% in the context of the current energy crisis), and has properties of atmosphere purification and air-conditioning. Due to the creation of varieties with high production potential, suitable for cultivation in intensive and super-intensive plantations and also due to the government financial support, walnut plantations can contribute to the development of new valorization directions for the obtained production, by processing fruits and other vegetative organs (green nuts, green and dried shells, foliage, timber) with significant profits. In order to establish and capitalize on a walnut plantation in the pedological and climatic conditions of Romania, pedological studies, worthiness and pedoclimatic studies were carried out in the depression area of Gorj County and show the stages of cultivation technology in intensive and super-intensive systems. The sustainability and economic efficiency of setting up organic walnut cultivation has been highlighted in view of the costs for agrotechnical works, labor and material expenses. According to the analysis of the efficiency indicators, it has been shown that the establishment of an ecological walnut orchard, on an area of 1 ha, in Gorj County, Romania, is a sustainable, appropriate and opportune investment, in terms of capitalizing on the agricultural potential of the land, environmental protection and with social and economic impact.

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Although in the last decade of the last century the primary renewable energy production has had a general growth trend that, in relative values, have surpassed the primary energy production from classical sources, the real boom of renewable energy production has occurred after 2000. Thus, if in 2000 the primary renewable energy production has represented 11.06% of the total primary energy production, in 2005 it has reached to 14.13% and in 2015 to 28.34%. The sun has been used as a source of thermal energy since ancient times. However, the thermal energy production was only 149.1 Thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) at European Union (28 countries) level (EU-28), in 1990, representing less than 0.02% of total primary energy production. The photovoltaic energy was practically inexistent in 1990, its primary production volume being of only 1.1 TOE. However, it has recorded an explosive growth since 2000. These aspects are the results of the significance given to the renewable energy production at EU level, K. Traube [1], H. Lund [2], J. Andrei, J. Subic, and D. Dusmanescu [3], as well as of the imperatives of sustainable development, A

Measuring sustainable development represents a fundamental issue which requires a complex approach in identifying relevant indicators to capture the global transformations of the contemporary economic paradigm, within the context of increasing globalization and of the integration of markets and economies. The recent evolutions of the environmenta lanalysis enforced total water footprint as a highly popular and core environmental performance indicator.The paper presents a critical approach on using total water footprint of agricultural products as a potential sustainable development indicator from the EU perspective, by applying a specific research method on clustering and concentration. The results prove that total water footprint of the agricultural products is highly country-specific dependent. The uneven distribution shown by grouping of countries and types of agricultural products consumption confirm this argument.