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Farmers can provide renewable energy along with agriculture

 Farmers, fishermen and food processing businesses have opportunities to install technologies to generate wind power, solar power, micro-hydropower.

in remote rural areas without access to the electricity grid, autonomous renewable energy systems are competitive because they allow users to avoid the high expenses in connecting to the grid.

Clean and green farming is feasible, Malaya Business Insights, 23 Dec 11 REDUCING the dependence of food systems on fossil fuels by using renewable energy is feasible. Renewable energy can also be used for transporting raw food feedstocks, processing food, distributing finished products and cooking.

In poor countries, renewable energy presents opportunities to provide much needed basic energy services such as in post-harvest stages that are important for reducing food losses. In Sri Lanka, for example, wood biomass is being used to dry spices.

Farmers, fishermen and food processing businesses have opportunities to install technologies to generate wind power, solar power, micro-hydropower.

With the exception of biomass energy crops, the land area required for renewable energy projects is usually relatively small. It is calculated that the fraction of land needed to displace global fossil fuel use with solar and wind energy technologies would use around 1.5 percent of the approximate land area currently used for agriculture.

Generally, wind turbine equipment occupies about 5 percent of the land and the remaining 95 percent can continue to be used for farming or ranching. Large solar photovoltaic arrays can occupy several hectares, but are often located on building rooftops.

Small hydro run-of-river projects usually need only a small area of land for the turbine house…..

in remote rural areas without access to the electricity grid, autonomous renewable energy systems are competitive because they allow users to avoid the high expenses in connecting to the grid.

The diversification to bioenergy could provide economic incentives for much needed investments in capital and skills in agriculture.

The mitigation of saline soils in Australia though agro-forestry biomass production linked with food production is an example of the potential benefits of bioenergy development……

There are opportunities to develop bioenergy production systems that can help achieve both food and fuel production, for instance through integrated food energy systems.

A market analysis of 15 case studies in Latin America made by the Food and Agriculture Organization confirms that bioenergy from small-scale, on-farm projects can be used to produce heat, power and biofuels for local use, contribute to rural livelihoods, reduce imported fossil fuel dependence and offer new opportunities for rural communities.

All with no impact on local food security…… http://www.malaya.com.ph/dec23/agri2.html

December 23, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, decentralised