Energy and Foof Communities
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ENERGYAND FOOD COMMUNITIES A sustainable program EXPO MILANO 2015 ENERGY and FOOD COMMUNITIES: A sustainable programme AiCARR Culture and technique for Energy Man and Environment IN COOPERATION WITH UNDER THE CULTURAL PROGRAMME OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY PAVILLION UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF 2 AiCARR Culture and technique for Energy Man and Environment ENERGY and FOOD COMMUNITIES: A sustainable programme EXPO MILAN 2015 3 AiCARR Via Melchiorre Gioia,168 20125 Milano MI - Italy Tel. 0267479270 Fax 0267479262 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.aicarr.org ISBN 978-88-95620-62-6 Copyright AiCARR 2015. All rights are reserved. No part of the present volume can be reproduced or diffused with any means without written authorization of the Editor. AiCARR cannot be deemed directly or indirectly responsible for the contents of the articles published in the present volume. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ENERGY AND FOOD COMMUNITIES: A SUSTAINABLE PROGRAMME Livio de Santoli – President of AiCARR – Delegate for Building and Energy policies University “La Sapienza” Rome SMALL SCALE PRODUCTION ENHANCEMENT Luca Alberto Piterà – Technical Secretary of AiCARR ENERGY PROBLEMS IN FOOD INDUSTRY, FOCUSING ON GROCERY STORES AND REFRIGERATED WAREHOUSES: AN INTERNATIONAL OVERVIEW Thomas H. Phoenix – P.E., Fashrae, Leed AP – ASHRAE Society President FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEMS Stefano Masini, Francesco Ciancaleoni – Environment and Territory Area - Coldiretti FOOD VS ENERGY, CONFLICT OR INTEGRATION Marino Berton – AIEL General Manager ENERGY EFFICIENCY FOR AN INNOVATIVE AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE SYSTEM Carlo Alberto Campiotti, Arianna Latini, Matteo Scoccianti, Corinna Viola – ENEA UTEE (Energy Efficiency Technical Unit) ENERGY EFFICIENCY FOR FOOD CONSERVATION INDUSTRY Giovanni Cortella – DIEG University of Udine, AiCARR member ENERGY GENERATION FROM AGRICULTURAL BIOMASS AN OVERALL PICTURE Antonio N. Negri – Manager of GSE S.p.A. Energy Services FOOD CHAIN CERTIFICATION: FROM CONTENT TO CONTAINER Marco Mari – Senior Business Developer and Special Project Manager – Bureau Veritas Italia S.p.A. 5 ENERGY and FOOD Communities: a sustainable programme LIVIO DE SANTOLI President of AICARR – Delegate for Building and Energy policies – University “La Sapienza” Rome AiCARR’s proposal starts from EXPO Milano 2015. Cascina Triulza, the place of civil society and, not coincidentally, the third sector is where AiCARR will discuss about energy and food to formulate an ambitious, but necessary, project for a different and more conscious approach to these issues through the involvement of some of the most influential partners in the energy and food production sectors; a complex but inevitable study in the year of feeding the planet. The reflections on energy issues in a century that has inherited political, economic, land management, environmental and even personal identity issues from the century before must radically rethink the production processes and consumption behaviour; and today more than ever, a unified and inclusive view - a new alliance between man and nature. This concept of a “unified view” could start with Energy Communities, that today seem to have sparked the collective imagination of energy thinkers. Only a few years ago, there was talk of involving the territories, of a responsible participation of individuals, of opposition to the centralization and distribution monopoly and an economy based upon the widespread growth contrasting speculative finance1 – many considered it to be far too unrealistic. As part of this model, agriculture plays a fundamental role in the transformation of primary energy in both prospects, which are mutually complementary; that is, the energy required for agriculture and the energy produced by agriculture. Use and production, as a metaphor of man who rebels against his current condition, of a simple user, because he wants to be the leading player. In fact, man is not only a user of technology, but he himself becomes a machine that transforms the agricultural asset through the consumption of food. If it is essential to emphasize a new production role that takes into account the effects and the consequences on the economic, financial, social and environmental condition of the energy communities that make the resources available, this is even more evident in the agricultural sector (the food communities). The necessary physical and emotional closeness of the individual to the production site and his active participation not only produces a better product, but an informed and efficient consumer. This goes for food as well as energy. Agriculture needs energy. We constantly talk about wasting food, but what about wasting energy to create that food (a third of which is then wasted)? Is a peasant world possible like the one fifty years ago in Italy? A world without waste, characterized by a completely decarbonised production? 1 Livio de Santoli, Le Comunità dell’Energia (The Energy Communities), Quodlibet 2011 6 The increase in food production over the last 50 years has reduced global hunger (although there are still more than 800 million people who suffer famine), but there is a high environmental price to pay, which gives agriculture a great responsibility on the overall stability of the planet. As agricultural production is still not sufficient to ensure food safety, its production methods should no longer be considered acceptable as they result in land degradation, loss of biodiversity and pollution. These conditions, which, like food, are essential to human life and welfare. Even the FAO states that this model should be subjected to a thorough review and that we need a paradigm shift2. The food sector currently accounts for about 30 percent of the world’s total energy consumption and 22 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. Industrialized countries use a greater portion of this energy for processing and transportation, i.e. three to four times greater than the energy used for primary production. On the other hand, in countries with low GDPs, the percentage for preparing and cooking food is much higher – but not least – the energy required for crop production is greater (see Fig. 1). Greenhouse gas emissions are particularly significant for production. Figure 1 - indicative figures of final energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions (FAO source, which points out that these are merely indicative data and should be interpreted with caution). This means that energy efficiency of the entire food chain, cultivations, production systems, the use of irrigation and fertilizers, refrigeration, storage systems, transport and food preparation must be improved. Access to energy produced from renewable sources finds a perfect integration and utilization in agriculture and aquaculture and in processing plants. In fact, the energy can be a source of additional revenue if sold on the territory, especially when it favours the exploitation of local resources, biomass waste, food production and processing, which in turn would be transformed from waste (only one cost) to additional energy sources in a 2 FAO Energy and Smart Food for People and Climate, 2011 7 virtuous circle of the waste cycle (a resource). The increased use of renewable sources is only at the initial stage in the agricultural sector, but investments and research need to be boosted, likewise the development of educational programmes and the dissemination of good practices. Therefore, three possible ways to address with awareness the issue of the energy required for agriculture can be identified as follows: To increase the efficient direct and indirect use of energy so as to reduce energy intensity (MJ/kg of produced food/produce); To encourage the use of renewable energy systems in place of fossil fuel systems, without reducing food production; To encourage and improve access of rural communities to energy services. The concept of Energy and Food Communities, however, in addition to providing a supply of sustainable energy for the food industry, also imposes the generation of energy by the agricultural sector, when the farming community is the provider of sustainable and compatible energy sources. Compatible means respectful of agricultural production and low impact on the environment. The use of biomass waste as a sign of their enhancement within the territory where they are produced and the inclusion of different products in a network context would reveal an energy capacity for the proper use of residual biomasses, considered as by- products and not as waste. In general, the concept of energy vocationality is linked to the need for the transformation activities of agro-forestry products to use local production process waste in their area to produce the energy needed by that territory. Parallelism between agriculture and energy is completed by a consideration on the concept of sovereignty, which implies the need for energy policies that are agricultural production-conscious and not to the contrary. As mentioned, this means enhancing waste production as an economically and ecologically convenient procurement source in a life cycle logic; but it also means a short supply chain as a way of managing production, creating revenue and guaranteeing the sustainability of farms that become the new energy businesses. AiCARR’s proposal is to highlight the need to innovate the existing relationship between agriculture and energy in terms of sustainability, in the wake of the program guidelines defined by the European and National agricultural policies. The principles on which a series