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Renewable Energy Sources for Agricultural Vocatio..
Renewable Energy Sources for Agricultural Vocational Education
Start date: Sep 15, 2015,
End date: Sep 14, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
The energy and environmental sustainability of human activity plays a central role in the policies of the European Union. The rapid and sometimes uncontrolled, world economic development that we have seen in recent decades, has resulted in excessive emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG - Green House Gas) with devastating consequences for the climate and the environment, as evidenced at the signing of the Kyoto Protocol and numerous subsequent demonstrations. This is accompanied by the steady increase of the needs of a growing world population, which triggers the need to increase production, first of all those agribusiness. In this context, it is clear the strategic role played by agriculture in relation to the sustainability of its products and the responsible use of rural land and its resources. Increasing attention, at the level of scientific orientation and training activities, is then paid to the so-called green economy and professional skills necessary to develop economic activities based on standards of environmental sustainability , energy , economic and social . The goal of 20% of energy production from renewable sources by 2020, as required by Directive 2009/28/EC involves the development and enhancement of all sources and in this framework biomasses play a key role. Farms, agritourism and agroforestry, have access to a wealth of varied and substantial biomass used for energy purposes, such as bits of herbaceous crops and trees, mowing and pruning trees and shrubs cutting coppice woodland, manure from livestock , food residues. The treatment and management of biomass and its use in systems of different types are therefore an essential starting point for a culture and practice of the use of renewable energy sources in agricultural enterprises. In addition to the biomass agricultural enterprise can benefit and modular inserting meditated and sustainable solar thermal systems for water heating, photovoltaic panels as a cover of stables, warehouses and workshops with photovoltaic panels wind, geothermal and hydropower , in areas that have such resources.
The project will make available interactive training materials that help learn the different problems and opportunities relating to the use of renewable energy sources, environmental and competitive advantages resulting from it, the technical and technological characteristics of the existing plants and learning the skills necessary to realization of an energy plan corporate and rational management of plant and agricultural and forestry activities connected.
This approach aimed at new professional skills in agriculture, goes in the direction of the Lisbon Strategy in March 2000 to give rise to a European society based on knowledge, the Fischler Reform of 2003 to develop a competitive agriculture, sustainable and multifunctional from Convention of Rio de Janeiro for the reduction of the environmental impact of economic activities (footprint) and the Kyoto Protocol and subsequent international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas and the effects of global warming and climate change.
Through a partnership structure that includes all the needed skills and thanks to a broad and timely issues posed and opportunities offered to farms from the renewable energy sector , the project will match the training needs of European farmers who wish to integrate the use of renewable energy sources to fossil fuels in their businesses.
The project starts from experiences performed in the last years by the different partners by using the achieved teaching materials and adapting the techniques and technologies available for carrying out plants working by use of biomass and other kind of renewable energy sources (RES). The final training products of the RESAVE project will be different of the previously existing teaching materials for a strategic approach focused on the rural space for the sustainable development of an energy network from renewable sources and for a series of characteristics that make their use particularly effective for i) farmers, livestock breeders and managers of agritourism and agro-forestry farms ; ii) agronomists and land surveyors, students of technical and vocational and university faculties of agriculture, engineering, biology, chemistry and technicians of assistance services for re-use of farm animal waste and crops residues. The course, available online and interactive will be constituted of 4 Modules, preceded by a preliminary general module entitled "Farm management for environmental sustainability and energy and production effectiveness of the agricultural business", that provides a legal and management framework of reference for the use at farm of renewable energy sources.