Evaluation the sustainable energy applications for fruit and vegetable productions processes; case study: Greenhouse cucumber production

Abstract

Reducing fossil fuel application and also CO2 emissions are two main purposes of global energy politics. In this context, the provision of sustainable energy practices in vegetable productions is a very important subject in terms of food safety. Fruits and vegetables are called crops in agricultural activities. In this study, greenhouse cucumber production was assessment to determine the energy saving direction and also to find the interactions of the cucumber chemical structure with energy using and the impact of solar energy potential absorbed in photosynthesis on the performance of the cucumber production process with thermodynamic concept by using advanced exergy-based methods. It is also the first attempt to investigate the crop production processes with renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Data were collected from 30 cucumber greenhouses in Golshan city, Isfahan province of Iran (located within 51° 39′ north latitude and 31° 56′ east longitude) using face to face questionnaire method. According to the results of this study, cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) increased from 0.23 to 0.47, exergy efficiency from 0.18 to 0.30 and renewability indicator (RI) from −3.32 to −1.09 when the greenhouse cucumber production process was included renewable energies. The loss of exergy, however, decreased from 4809.18 MJ to 2415.41 MJ. The advantages of the presented applied method were compared with the conventional methods. The results showed that the advanced exergy-based analysis is more meaningful and effective tool for performance evaluation of vegetables than conventional approaches. Based on the guideline of this study, performance can be improved with respect to energy use in vegetable production processes.