Saving Energy

Agriculture is at risk from climate change as temperatures, pest levels and growing seasons change. However, agriculture also contributes to these effects through emissions from fertilizers, water wastage and biological processes. A third of vegetables and fruit consumed in the EU are produced by protected horticulture. As 90% of the greenhouse growers are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), they have to compete with cheaper labor, production costs and regular supply from producers outside the EU.
The EU-funded EUPHOROS project increased the efficient use of inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides in protected horticulture. The four-year study, completed in August 2012, developed a sustainable greenhouse system that does not fully rely on fossil fuels for energy and minimizes the carbon footprint of agriculture. The project achieved a 50% reduction in the amount of energy used as well as a sizeable saving of chemical inputs: a third less fertilizers and a tenth less pesticides.
The result was a number of structured components that can be used by farmers across the EU, three of which contain innovative tools and systems to reduce energy, water, fertilizer, pesticide consumption and waste. Another intervention optimizes the growing environment, developing innovative and robust monitoring tools. A theoretical analysis was also conducted throughout the project to quantify the reduction of resource inputs and carbon footprint delivered by each component, together with financial and economic consequences.

The project identified several energy-saving areas in protected agriculture. “We tried to focus on the most typical greenhouses in Europe. The heated glass house and the plastic multi-tunnel are the most common in the Mediterranean region,” says Dir. Cecilia Stanghellini, project leader of EUPHOROS.

“The environmental impact from protected