Sustainable heating of Dutch greenhouses
Geothermal energy is expected to play an important role in helping meet climate targets. New innovative heat exchangers from Alfa Laval support the solution.
DATE 2024-01-12 AUTHOR David Landes PHOTO Graham Samuels
The Netherlands is the world’s second-largest food exporter by value, and the country’s 9000 hectares of greenhouses are a big reason why. But keeping those greenhouses the right temperature requires lost of energy, so developing alternative energy sources is a top priority in the country’s efforts to meet its ambitious climate targets.
The Dutch government has pledged to be free of natural gas by 2030 and reduce CO2-equivalent emissions by 49 percent compared to 1990 levels. The greenhouse sector is already taking steps toward using renewable energy, with several geothermal energy plants coming online in recent years.
Geothermal heating works by pumping up warm water from deep inside the earth (usually 1,000 to 5,000 meters deep). The warm water can then be used to heat greenhouses, reducing the need for natural gas and other fossil fuels.
Heat exchangers play a key role in harnessing the benefits to geothermal energy, ensuring efficient heat transfer between the warm water coming up from the ground and the cooler water that has been used to heat greenhouses or other buildings.
In 2017, Alfa Laval launched a new geothermal-optimised heat exchanger design as part of a pilot project, which has since resulted three other plants being retrofitted with the Alfa Laval solution. The new plants featuring the Alfa Laval design are also in the pipeline.
And with current plans calling for the building of an estimated 175 geothermal installations by 2030, chances are Alfa Laval heat exchangers will have a central role in reducing energy use and emissions form Dutch greenhouses for many years to come.
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Alfa Laval prispeva k trajnostnim ciljem ZN
Združeni narodi so si začrtali 17 trajnostnih razvojnih ciljev za 2030, znani kot Globalni Cilji. Sedaj je na nas, da jih dosežemo in presežemo.
Raziščite kako v Alfa Laval prispevamo k doseganju Globalnih Ciljev
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Naša nagrajena revija
Vas zanima inovativna predelava živil, ki spreminja hrošče v hamburgerje, ali nova tehnologija za shranjevanje obnovljivih virov energije? To sta le dva primera člankov v novi izdaji revije HERE. Članki ponazarjajo, kaj mislimo z odgovorno rastjo, in predlagajo rešitve, ki koristijo tako ljudem kot planetu. HERE je leta 2019 prejela nagradno švedskih založnikov.
Letno poročilo podjetja Alfa Laval / Trajnostno poročilo
V našem najnovejšem letnem poročilu lahko preberete o preteklem letu, trendih, ki vodijo naše poslovanje, in gospodarskih panogah, v katerih delujemo. Prav tako vam bo omogočilo boljše razumevanje naših ljudi, izdelkov in storitev ter kako sta inovativnost in trajnost pomemben del vsega, kar počnemo.
Alfa Laval aktivno deluje na področju trajnosti in si je zastavilo številne cilje. Ti odražajo ambicije podjetja na področjih okolja, zdravja in varnosti. Med drugim cilji zajemajo: zmanjšanje števila nesreč na delovnem mestu, večjo energetsko učinkovitost, zmanjšanje porabe vode in zmanjšanje emisij toplogrednih plinov.