Integration of greenhouse agriculture to the energy infrastructure as an alimentary solution

Abstract

There is an evident food, water and energy crisis worldwide. Up to a quarter of the global population has no reliable access to any of these basic supplies. The published literature reveals that research is being carried out on sustainable and comprehensive energy transitions. Simultaneously, research on different aspects of agriculture, such as energy intensity and water use are constantly investigated, mostly at local or regional level. However, the published literature has not yet addressed a recently developed model of agriculture, the container sized agricultural units, which can be integrated to energy production facilities providing an opportunity for a symbiotic relation whereby both systems benefit. Results show that using only 5% of the projected electricity generation (2527 TWhel) from biomass, utility-scale photovoltaic, wind and waste-to-energy for proposed cases, a total of 55.4 million container-sized agricultural units can be powered globally by 2050, providing the recommended vegetable intake to 24.4% of the projected global population. The proposed approach eliminates the need of pesticides and herbicides, and reduces water, land and fertilizer use, while decreasing the need for transportation. Additionally, the CO2 emissions from point sources, such as power plants, can be captured and used to increase the yield of the agricultural units by up to 30%.