Webinar: sustainable energy use in greenhouses
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Poland organizes an online seminar on circular energy solutions dedicated to greenhouse production.
The webinar is a part of Circular Week in Poland.
Plants need energy to create green mass, which then feeds the next member of the food chain. However, only 10% of the energy needed to produce the plant's energy mass is consumed by the next actor in the food chain. This means that plant production requires a very large amount of energy, which is why the issue of energy in plant production is such an important topic.
Greenhouse horticulture is developing steadily in Poland. More and more modern facilities are being built in the country. At the same time, the requirements of both consumers and various institutions in Poland and in the European Union make it more and more difficult to conduct production under covers.
One of the challenges is the energy needed to run a greenhouse.
Threats
In recent years, electricity prices have risen, which directly translates into increased greenhouse production costs. But also a drought that regularly manifests itself may be a threat to the energy stability of a farm, because it is often water from rivers that serves as the coolant for power plants and, in the absence of it, electricity suppliers have a problem with providing energy.
Trends
The direction that the European Union has set in recent years is very clear and focused on actions leading to climate neutrality. Thus, it is certain that initiatives to improve the climate and develop renewable energy infrastructure will be (already is!) supported first, but will likely become a new reality in the long run with simultaneously phasing out of fossil fuels.
It is possible that in the long term, the consumer will also pay more attention to the carbon footprint of the products they buy, which will translate into customer choices. These types of trends appear very quickly and it is impossible to introduce immediate changes in the heating of greenhouses.
Since the energy problems in greenhouse production are universal in nature, it is worth looking at solutions already used by the others. The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands invites greenhouse owners to a webinar on the use of energy in production under cover.
The webinar will take place on October, 13th at 13:00-15:00.
You can subscribe by using this link
The webinar will be held in English and Polish.
Speakers
The speakers of the webinar are:
• Mr Piet Broekharst -Kas als energiebron- a project presenting various research and innovations aimed at reducing the energy demand in a greenhouse, as well as testing various combinations in obtaining energy. Since the results of the research and testing are public, they could be commercially implemented very quickly, which allowed many companies producing under cover to innovate accordingly.
• Mr Frank Kempkes - Wageningen UR Greenhouse Technology - AllElectric - a greenhouse commissioned by the Dutch government in Wageningen, where there are ways to reduce the loss of heat and other types of energy. The greenhouse is powered by electricity
• Ms Joanna Czernicka- Ter Laak Orchids- A greenhouse that draws energy from the sun and at the same time heats the water needed to heat the production.