Biomass Energy Technologies from Innovative Dairy Farming Systems

Effect of radiant catalytic ionization on environmental conditions in rodent rooms and the haematological status of mice

High stocking densities, closed animal houses, and elevated concentrations of bacteria, fungi, and the products of their activity, including ammonia and hydrogen sulphide, have adverse health effects. Active techniques used to reduce unfavourable environmental conditions, such as ventilation, sprinkling, bedding sorbents, and nutritional treatments, are not always sufficient to improve the animals’ living environment. The current paper aims to evaluate the effect of radiant catalytic ionization (RCI) on airborne microorganisms, cage microbiological status, gaseous ammonia concentrations, and the haematological status of mice in animal houses. After one week of operation of an RCI system, the number of airborne bacteria and fungi in the experimental room decreased in comparison to the first day of the experiment (p < 0.05 and p < 0.05 respectively), as did the concentrations of ammonia (p < 0.01) and dust. At the same time, the basic health parameters of the mice, determined in the blood, were very similar between the control and experimental room. RCI seems to be an ideal solution to ensure high hygiene standards in animal rooms and houses with limited use of disinfectants or antibiotic treatment of sick animals. An additional, environmental benefit is the limited amount of nitrogen released.

Application of Bayesian Networks in Modeling of Underground Gas Storage Energy Security

Energy security is a multidimensional and multifaceted concept, therefore defining it is a complex problem. It requires the consideration of a wide set of factors from the fields of economics, geology, ecology and geopolitics, all of which have an influence on energy security or the lack thereof. The article focuses on natural gas, which is a very specific fuel in the European context. It is the most “politicized” source of energy, as a consequence of its growing importance as a transition fuel in the energy transformation process. In order to identify dependencies between variables on the gas market and analyze their impact on it (in particular on underground storage), the authors chose a set of variables and built a Bayesian network. The network is an effective and flexible tool that allows analysis of the relationships between the variables that build them and model their values based on evidence. The article presents two stages of work with the Bayesian network. In the first one, a network was built based on historical data. It shows the relationships between the variables as well as the probability of the value ranges of individual variables. A huge advantage of the presented Bayesian network is that it can be used to model various scenarios on the gas market. Moreover, the ability to make statistical inferences for all its nodes represents a valuable additional feature. Several examples of such inferences are presented in the second stage of the analysis, examining the impact of consumption variability on the level of inventory in underground gas storage facilities, the impact of having an LNG terminal and the share of natural gas in electricity production on the storage capacity of a given country. The use of tools such as Bayesian networks allows us to better discover the interrelationships between variables influencing the energy market, analyze them, and estimate the impact on energy security of distinct scenarios described with specific metrics. A simple example of such a metric, i.e., the minimum level of gas storage at the end of the winter season, as well as its analysis and modeling using a relatively simple Bayesian network, is presented in this article.

Project Environment and Outlook within the Scope of Technologically Integrated European Green Deal in EU and Ukraine

Issues of environmental security, fuel and energy independence have been forming political and economic territories for several centuries. Current events in Ukraine have become a litmus test, which clearly highlights the dangers of resource monopolies and the transfer of economic benefits. The issue of ensuring the energy system in climate neutrality became relevant even before the aggression by Russia. However, today, there is no country, it has not recognized that there is the urgent need to develop and implement effective tools for economic development in a sustainable environment. The modern cost-oriented model of knowledge of economic processes has led not only to the irrational use of natural potential. Large-scale use of natural resources and the irrational organization of production (including agricultural) disrupt the process of their reproduction, which, in turn, leads to the depletion of bioresources and, as a consequence, can lead humanity to ecological catastrophe. Certain solutions have been proposed to address these issues. To ensure the efficient use of the resources of the agricultural sector and the reliable reflection of biological processes, it is proposed to recognize the biological form of capital as self-growing and self-reproducing value, which, in the process of biological transformation, allows obtaining an additional unit of benefits. The study examines, in detail, the promising areas of the transformation of the agricultural sector in the framework of a technologically integrated European Green Deal in the EU. In this study, to determine the potential opportunities for the ecological transformation of agriculture, discrete analytical models of the assessment of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine were used. Representative data use statistical indicators of Ukraine and, to illustrate potential opportunities, present a comparison of export data to EU countries. In addition, it reveals the realized and potential opportunities of Ukraine’s entry into the European market through the prism of the implementation programs of EU environmental policy. The place and significance of assimilation potential for a reduction in the anthropogenic impact on the environment, and providing the self-restoration of natural resources, are substantiated. It is determined that one of the most effective tools for low-cost reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions is the national-level implementation of environmental-quota trade and the development of organic production. The study includes an analytical assessment of the expected emission reductions from environmental initiatives’ implementation. Prospects for further research are the development of an effective mechanism for the systematic management of the biological potential reproduction of the agricultural sector while reducing anthropogenic impact on the environment.

European Green Deal: Threats Assessment for Agri-Food Exporting Countries to the EU

This article is devoted to assessing and substantiating the threats for countries/exporters of agricultural products to the EU under conditions of the European Green Deal. The revealed comparative advantages index (RCA), comparison method, correlation and regression analysis, and taxonomic method have been applied. According to the RCA index the main causes for the relatively significant volume of agri-food exports by some countries to the EU have been identified; using the comparison method it was found that among the leading countries by agricultural products export to the EU, many states do not meet the European Green Deal target criteria for agriculture. Correlation and regression analysis has revealed that among the chosen factors only the volume of fertilisers use per cropland has direct and strong influence on CO2eq emissions; by a taxonomic method the threats value for the leading agri-food exporters to the EU has been calculated. The major agri-food exporters to the EU under conditions of the European Green Deal targets till 2030 have a high threat regarding reduction of their supply to the Member States in the case of a possible Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism or the introduction of other import restriction mechanisms in future. The results of the study can be used by the government and other executive bodies of the analysed countries to make adequate and rapid decisions to avoid the threats of possible agri-food exports reduction to the EU under the further European Green Deal implementation.

Energy Potential of Biogas Production in Ukraine

Manufacturing and the further utilization of biogas is an efficient way of complementing or replacing primary energy resources. Ukraine has followed the global tendency to substitute fossil energy sources with renewable ones, which particularly includes biogas. Considering the experience of European countries, as well as the potential and needs of Ukraine, the necessity of biogas plant building implies three main factors: obtaining the energy sources, selling agricultural products and by-products of biogas production, and managing the environmental issues surrounding biogas generation. The growth dynamics of biogas plants and their productivity were analyzed for the period of 2012–2019. In doing so, the capacity and potential capabilities of biogas production in Ukraine by means of biological waste and agricultural raw materials were assessed. The article focuses on the importance of resolving the issues of sanitary and technogenic protection in biogas plant building and biogas manufacturing. It also points out the reasons that prevent Ukraine from going forward with biogas projects, as well as the main factors that affect biogas plant viability and efficiency. Based on the statistical data of previous years and regression analysis, the authors calculated the production output and biogas transformation. Herein, the trend model and Excel software were applied.

Implementation of Technical and Technological Progress in Dairy Production

The involvement of people and technical devices is a characteristic feature of technological processes in agriculture. Human access to modernized and more efficient technical equipment determines the differentiation of the proportions of the contributions of human labor and technical equipment to the implementation of production technology on farms. Taking into account the data on manual and machine work inputs, the methodology of determining the technological index level (TL) was presented. The aim of the present study was to present the scope of use of the technological index level to assess the effects of technological progress in the dairy production system, with particular emphasis on cow milking. For the value range of the technological index level (0–100%), changes in the milkman’s work efficiency were presented based on research carried out on farms equipped with milking equipment at different levels of technical advancement. Moreover, the course of changes in electricity and water consumption per liter of milk was determined in association with the technological index level. The issue of simultaneous implementation of various forms of progress was developed based on the example of milking cows with a milking robot. Five categories (ranges) of cows’ milk yield were distinguished and compared with the current yields of cows in the European Union. On this basis, a discussion was initiated on the factors that facilitate and limit the implementation of technical and technological progress in dairy production.

GHG and NH3 Emissions vs. Energy Efficiency of Maize Production Technology: Evidence from Polish Farms; a Further Study

The paper determines the effect of selected cultivation technologies, including production chain energy inputs (growing, harvest, heap forming) on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to the atmosphere. The data for the study was collected from 13 actually operating family farms ranging in size from 2 to 13 ha, located in the Podlaskie voivodship (Poland). GHG and ammonia (NH3) emissions from natural and mineral fertilisation as well as GHGs from energy carriers in a form of fuels (ON) were estimated. The average GHG emissions from the sources analysed were 1848.030 kg·CO2eq·ha−1 and 29.492 kg·CO2eq·t−1 of the green forage yield. The average NH3 emissions per hectare were 15,261.808 kg NH3 and 248.871 kg NH3·t−1 of yield. The strongest impact on the environment, due to the GHG emissions to the atmosphere, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect, is due nitrogen fertilisation, both mineral and natural. On average, in the technologies under study, 61% of the total GHG emissions came from fertilisation. The GHG emissions were correlated with the energy efficiency, calculated at the previous research stage, of the production technologies applied. There is a negative correlation (r = −0.80) between the features studied, which means that the higher the energy efficiency of the silage maize plantations, the lower the air pollution emissions in a form of the GHGs from the sources under study. It is so important to prevent environmental degradation to continue, conduct in-depth, interdisciplinary research on reducing the energy consumption of crop production technologies and striving to increase energy efficiency.