Opportunities of adopting renewable energy for the nursery industry in Australia

In Australia, the nursery and garden industry provides significant economic, cultural, social and environmental benefits to the community (NGIA, 2014). The production nurseries support a diverse array of industries and end users, including retail outlets, landscapers, cut-flower growers, orchardists, vegetable growers, interiorscapers, sustainable forestry and revegetation enterprises. Overall, the gross value of production (GVP) of the broad 'nursery, flower and turf' industry in Australia is A$1271 million, which is 17% of the total GVP of Australian horticultural industry (ABS, 2013). Amenity horticulture is currently one of the fastest growing industries in Australia (NGIA, 2009). Energy use efficiency has also become increasingly important due to the increasing cost and scarcity of energy sources and also the associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions causing global warming (Bundschuh and Chen, 2014; Chen and Baillie, 2009a). The horticultural sector contributes about 6% of the total agriculturalGHGemissions in Australia (Deuter, 2008). Nursery operators are thus under increasing pressure to reduce their energy and carbon footprint. By improving energy efficiency and using clean energy sources, the nursery industry can drive down their carbon footprint (Abeliotis et al., 2015; Beccaro et al., 2014; Lazzerini et al., 2014; Russo et al., 2008), and also simultaneously increase their bottom line

Solar, wind and geothermal energy applications in agriculture: back to the future?

The agri-food chain consumes about one third of the world’s energy production with about 12% for crop production and nearly 80% for processing, distribution, retail, preparation and cooking (Fig. 1.1) (FAO, 2011b). The agri-food chain also accounts for 80–90% of total global freshwater use (Hoff, 2011) where 70% is for irrigation alone. Additionally, on a global scale, freshwater production consumes nearly 15% of the entire energy production (IEA, 2012). It can therefore be argued that making agriculture and the agri-food supply chain independent from fossil fuel use has huge potential to contribute to global food security and climate protection not only for the next decades, but also for the coming century. Provision of secure, accessible and environmentally sustainable supplies of water, energy and food must thus be a priority. One of the major objectives of theworld’s scientists, farmers, decision-makers and industrialists is to overcome the present dependence on fossil fuels in the agri-food sector. This dependency increases the volatility of food prices and affects economic access to sustenance. For example, Figure 1.2 shows the close interrelationship between the crude oil price index and the cereals price index. An increasing energy demand for cultivation is particularly important in regions with expanding irrigated agriculture using pumped water. This translates to a food-related risk to energy security. The development and commercialization of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal provides great potential to reduce costs in the agri-food sector. For instance, in addition to power generation, the main uses of geothermal waters are for space heating, district heating, spas balneology, aquaculture and greenhouse heating (Lund and Boyd, 2015). However, much work remains to be done to make better use of renewable energy in the agri-food sector. The aim of this introductory chapter is to critically review recent developments in solar, wind and geothermal energy applications in agriculture and the agri-food sector such as processing, distribution, retail, preparation and cooking