Wood Biomass as Sustainable Energy for Greenhouses Heating in Italy

Abstract

The Italian greenhouse vegetable industry is an important sector that requires thermal energy as much as 0.74 Mtoe, derived\ud mostly from fossil fuels, which corresponds to 2 MtCO2 emissions. The Energy Strategy 2020 of the European Commission calls\ud for increased use of renewable resources in the energy system, thus pushing the technology of wood biomass system for space\ud heating of the greenhouses, since this resource is considered as ‘greenhouse gas’ (GHG) neutral when converted to\ud heat, excluding the GHG generation during harvesting, transportation, and pre-processing of raw materials.\ud Taking into account the different climatic areas in the Italian peninsula, power energy load was estimated to be between 30 Wm-2\ud (in southern regions) and more than 175 Wm-2 (in northern regions), while the energy consumption was estimated in the range\ud from 21 to 546 kWhthm-2year-1 according to different internal air temperatures. Moreover, the CO2 enrichment in greenhouses\ud from the exhaust gas of a biomass heating system can bring benefits for greenhouse plant production, along with optimal\ud management strategies to reduce fuel consumption.\ud Unfortunately, CO2 enrichment from the exhaust gas of biomass boilers is still challenging and expensive, considering that wood\ud biomass boilers generate a higher volume of particulate matters (PM) and ash emissions than other fossil fuels. However, wet\ud scrubbers and other recent flue gas conditioning devices could help to reduce costs and make this process more feasible.\ud Thus, a techno-economic assessment is highly recommended to ascertain the economic feasibility of wood biomass boilers for\ud the greenhouse industry.\ud Finally, some economic considerations are provided to make cost-effective use of the solid biomass in relation to the economic incentives by the National Decree of 28 December 2012, so-called “White Certifies”

Greenhouse Climate Setpoint Optimization: An Online Decision Strategy

“…Therefore, how to reduce the energy consumption becomes a crucial issue of greenhouse production. To improve the production efficiency, many energy saving methods, such as optimizing the structure and materials of the greenhouse and introducing the biomass energy, have been proposed in recent years [3][4][5]. But most methods usually require additional construction cost, which cannot be afforded by the farmers.…”

Greenhouse localized heating powered by a polygeneration system

“…Growers typically use fossil-fuelled air conditioning systems with a high environmental burden as well as high costs. Bibbiani et al (2016) reported a consumption of fossil fuels for maintaining optimal greenhouse air temperature equal to about 5-6 kg m -2 yr -1 in Southern Europe and to 60-80 kg m -2 yr -1 in Central-Northern Europe. The yearly energy demand for greenhouse production is estimated at 220-320 MJm -2 in Southern Europe and up to 3600 MJm -2 in Northern Europe (Gorjian et al, 2021).…”

Impact of Selected Technical Soil Parameters on the Greenhouse Energy Management

“…In order to ensure the appropriate temperature in a greenhouse in the areas with transitional climate, it is necessary to heat the greenhouse in the winter. The heating of a greenhouse whose envelope is made of glass involves large heat losses to the atmosphere, and the larger the temperature difference between the indoor air temperature and the outdoor temperature, the larger the losses (Bibbiani et al, 2016;Raczek and Wachowicz, 2014). In order to limit the energy losses in greenhouses, the transparent envelope is nowadays most often made of polycarbonate panels with solar radiation transmission coefficient similar to that of glass.…”