# Cumulative Energy Demand and Carbon Footprint of the Greenhouse Cultivation System
## 1 Introduction
For the energy supply sector, it is proposed to implement measures covering fuel switching from coal to gas as well as renewable electricity and heat production. In this sector, actions to be taken to achieve these goals include reducing fossil fuel subsidies while subsidising renewable energy technologies. In agriculture, the proposed measures include replacing fossil fuels with energy crops and improving energy efficiency through financial incentives and regulations. In forestry, it is proposed to use forest products as bioenergy to replace fossil fuels. In the waste treatment sector, it is proposed to incinerate waste for energy recovery by adopting financial incentives as well as commitments to use renewable energy. By ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, Poland committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 6% compared to the base year in 2008-2012 and by 20% in 2013-2020, in line with the Doha Amendment, i.e., Decision 1/CMP8. Compliance with these commitments requires the production of greenhouse gas inventory reports divided into five categories: 1. Energy, 2. Industrial processes and product use, 3. Agriculture, 4. Land use, land change and forestry, and 5. Waste [18]. Four of these categories correspond to key economic sectors listed in the IPCC report [17] that can be analysed for reducing the environmental footprint of horticultural production. Another IPCC report describes different sketches for biomass deployment for energy on a global scale by 2050 [19]. The increase in energy demand results in high energy prices and drives biomass demand. National policy frameworks control biomass production and its potential use for specific regional conditions. Additionally, from an energy security perspective, high fossil fuel prices push demand for renewable energy such as biofuels and photovoltaics. Under the EPBD--Energy Performance on Buildings Directive [20], Member States may choose not to implement certain requirements for certain categories of buildings. It will be crucial for the owners of horticultural facilities to identify what actions to take and where to look for potentially significant energy savings and reduction in negative environmental impact. The importance of heat costs and savings both from an economic and environmental point of view was found to be significantly high when surveying several greenhouse locations in Europe [15]. Therefore, it is likely to be considered that locations of new GHs are close to industrial facilities offering significant amounts of waste processing heat [21]. Another solution that has already aroused interest is the use of combined heat and electricity generation [22; 23]. Nevertheless, the greatest economic and environmental benefits from the use of renewable fuels, such as wood biomass, are to be expected [24; 25; 26]. The reason for the lack of significant changes in the emission of gases and solid particles to the atmosphere in Poland is the fact that the structure of energy consumption of energy carriers has not undergone any significant changes. Hard coal remains the main carrier of primary energy. Its share in the structure of energy consumption in Poland in 2016 amounted to 39.8% [27]. In Poland, the total area of cultivation in greenhouses in 2017, according to the Statistical Yearbook of Agriculture [28], amounted to 16,342,000 m\({}^{2}\), which is approx. 29% of the total cultivated area under available covers. It is expected that the increase in fuel prices and/or environmental fees may soon have significant negative consequences for GH owners. For this reason, it seems justified to study the environmental footprint of GH cultivation in Polish conditions. To undertake this, it was decided to define the cumulative energy demand (CED) and carbon footprint (CF) for the use phase of GH, which was in operation for nearly a year. The study is based on measurements of heat and electricity consumption in a facility where ornamental plants are grown.