The use of renewable energy sources as a driver to reduce the carbon footprint of the livestock sector

According to FAO, up to 7.6% of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock supply chain are due to the direct energy consumption of animal farms, with considerable variations depending on the animal species and rearing conditions. Even though this share of emissions may seem small if compared with others, it is characterized by considerable room for improvement since, currently, in livestock houses, the most adopted energy sources are fossil fuels. Renewable energy accounts for less than 4% of the total energy consumption. This chapter is focused on the contribution that renewable energy sources can provide in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from animal farms. For this purpose, general concepts about the relations between energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are presented, to provide a general background about this topic. After these general concepts, an overview of the energy consumption in animal farms is provided and various solutions—in terms of energy system configuration—based on the use of renewable energy sources are then presented. The potentialities of these solutions in decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions are numerically evaluated.