Greenhouse gas emissions and energy balance in energy self-sufficient dairy cowsheds- CowEnergy

Abstract. Considering all sources and influencing factors of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and energy balance in agriculture, the individual and accurate calculation of GHG emissions and energy balance play a very important role. Renewable and sustainable energy production is an important resource for energy in Germany. As renewable energy production often depends on the occurring weather situation, the energy production is exposed to the volatility of these influences. In dairy farming, the required flexibility can be realized by automation and sensor-based management of working processes. For this, it is necessary to utilize storage capacities and shifting potentials to guarantee electricity supply at any time. Furthermore, modern dairy farms produce energy from wind turbines, biogas – and photovoltaic plants. The comination of these aspects may lead to an even more flexible energy consumption in the total energy balance. In this study the total energy balance have been done for different scenarios