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Investigating Scenarios for Reducing Carbon Footprint of Greenhouse Products Using Energy-Efficient Technologies in Iran

Solgi, Hamid Reza | 2022

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 54984 (46)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Energy Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Roshandel, Ramin
  7. Abstract:
  8. The present study aims to reduce the carbon footprint of greenhouse products to provide a decision tool for sustainable development of greenhouses. In order to provide this decision tool, the impact of four scenarios or energy-efficient technology for greenhouse heating, including: combine heat and power system(CHP), new greenhouse covering material, industrial symbiosis, and solar collector on the carbon footprint of greenhouse products has been studied because one of the main factors in the release of carbon footprints of greenhouse products is the use of fossil fuels for greenhouse heating. Energy modeling has been used to estimate the amount of heating, cooling, and artificial lighting required by the greenhouse for tomato, cucumber, and lettuce crops. Also, of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach has been used to assess the carbon footprint of greenhouse products.The results of this study show that if the CHP system is replaced by the conventional boiler system for greenhouse heating, the carbon footprint of the products will be significantly reduced and if the greenhouse does not have an artificial lighting system, the amount of carbon footprint for cucumber and tomato products becomes negative. If polycarbonate is used instead of glass to cover the greenhouse, in addition to reducing the carbon footprint of the crops, the total cost of producing the greenhouse products will also be reduced. For the industrial symbiosis scenario (using the power plant heat loss to heat the greenhouse), the distance between the greenhouse and the power plant from 1 to 10 km was investigated. If uses the power plant heat loss to heat the greenhouse, the results show that for tomatoes and cucumbers up to 10 km and lettuce up to 6 km between the power plant and the greenhouse, the carbon footprint will be less than that produced in conventional greenhouses. The shorter the distance between the power plant and the greenhouse, the carbon footprint reduction is more and the lower the investment cost for industrial symbiosis infrastructure. For the solar collector scenario, the collector area is from 10% to 100% of the greenhouse area was investigated. If the solar collector is used as an auxiliary heating system in the greenhouse, by increasing the area of the solar collector from 10% to 100% of the greenhouse area, the carbon footprint of the product is less than the product produced in conventional greenhouses. Finally, the carbon footprint and the cost of reducing the carbon footprint for different cultivation periods were examined, as well as the effect of increasing the price per cubic meter of natural gas consumed by the agricultural sector from 0.36 cents (current price) to 20 cents (export natural gas to Iraq) was examined on the cost of reducing the carbon footprint of products.
  9. Keywords:
  10. Industrial Symbiosis ; Life Cycle Assessment ; Greenhouse ; Renewable Energy Resources ; Carbon Footprint Reduction ; Combined Heat and Power (CHP)System ; Energy Efficiency

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