Heat Pumps Are The Future For Agriculture

According to the Eurostat database (Eurostat, 2017), in 2014 in the European Union energy consumption by agriculture made up 2.8% of the final energy consumption.

Heat energy is the second largest energy use in the agricultural sector at approximately 7,497 GWh or 37% of total use. This varies between the different types of agriculture, however, of this just over half is for raising the temperature of protected cropping with the remainder split between drying cereals and animals.

As much of this heat is relatively low temperatures it is ideal for heat pump applications. Combining with cooling (e.g. a cold store and a greenhouse) or with interseasonal storage using ground arrays is financially attractive, offering savings that are not possible using other technologies.