Analysis of problems of increasing energy efficiency in agricultural industry
Abstract
Analysis of energy efficiency problems has revealed growth of world's energy consumption while the use of petroleum products decreases suggesting that petroleum products are replaced with other energy sources and global economic crises. World’s energy consumption grows constant growth and according to the forecast it will continue grow in future. The use of coal, natural gas, biofuels and waste in the world will increase, as well as energy from wind, solar and other energy sources, including in agriculture and forestry.
The use of fuel and electricity on farms is as critical for sustainable development and energy saving as the use of soil and water. Energy efficiency is an integral part of sustainable agriculture. Progress in energy efficiency, which is already lagging behind, faces further setbacks due to Covid-19 pandemic. Energy consumption in agriculture is only a small share of total final energy consumption in Europe. Moreover, energy consumption in agriculture has declined rapidly over the last 20 years. However, there is a significant difference among EU member states. There is no single solution to increase energy efficiency in agriculture.
In Ukraine, the consumption of renewable energy sources and biofuels in agriculture and forestry shows increase. Ukraine is reducing agricultural production slowly and unevenly while switching to biofuels and almost not switching to alternative energy sources and replacing it with anthracite or biofuels due to the rising cost of natural gas. Significant potential for reducing the energy intensity of Ukraine's GDP lies in improving the energy efficiency of agricultural industry, but the realization of this potential is complicated by industry-specific shortcomings: high energy consumption of prosecution, which reduces competitiveness of products in the market; low energy efficiency of labor, which does not correspond to the current level of development of agricultural technologies and equipment.
