On 31st October and 1st November 2024, 4TU.Energy Symposium on Energy Transition in Horticulture has been successfully realized. We congratulate the main organizer who is also the main recipient of our funding - dr.ir. Congcong Sun, and thank the hard work from the whole organization team!
Horticulture, the science of growing fruit and vegetables, including greenhouse and vertical farming, is a very important method of food production and can play an important role in tackling climate change. However, it is very energy intensive.
Achieving an energy transition in horticulture will require more than the efforts of researchers. Academia, industry, government, policy-making organisations and growers should join forces. 4TU.Energy has therefore funded a 2-days symposium to facilitate this collaboration.
Congcong Sun, researcher at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and organiser of the workshop: “The aim of the workshop is to bridge the energy sector with the horticulture sector and create synergies between different groups within these sectors.”
The workshop clearly provided a long-awaited opportunity for networking. 50 participants attended the workshop, of which 40% were researchers (from 4TU and also from other research centres in the Netherlands), 40% stakeholders (from greenhouse technology companies such as Priva, Signify, Philips; sustainable energy companies such as Siemens, Schneider, Vattenfall and the organisation Glastuinbouw Nederland) and 20% end users (e.g. greenhouse growers).
Congcong Sun kicked off the 2-days symposium
Group photo of the majority of participants
Silke Hemming, head of WUR's greenhouse horticulture department, attended the workshop and reflected: "I don't usually get to meet people from the energy sector or horticulturalists like this. This dedicated workshop added value to the challenge ahead of us, I like that!” Her colleague researcher, Canan Acar, hydrogen energy researcher at the University of Twente, concurred: "To tackle the energy transition at the intersection of energy, food and water, an inclusive and diverse approach is urgently needed. I am here to learn more about agriculture and to share my insights from my research in hydrogen energy". Dirk Oudes, WUR researcher, Landscape Architecture, also chimed in: “Food and energy both shape our cultural landscapes, for me it would be very interesting to see if we can use these ideas to create renewable landscapes. Landscapes that produce clean energy and provide our food.”
The workshop provided presentations, a poster session, discussions and excursions on a wide range of topics. One of the highlights was the stakeholder session on the second day, a session which brought together a range of companies related to horticulture and was hosted by PRIVA, a Dutch high-tech company in the climate control field, specializing in smart building automation, greenhouse technology & indoor farming.
In the aftermovie, Jan Westra, Strategic Business Developer at PRIVA, adds his perspective of using AI developments as a tool to get new ideas to deal with the complexity of the different aspects of the energy transition, the intricate web of actors in electricity, gas, hydrogen, etc. that come into play in the energy transition.
Congcong Sun looks back on a fruitful two-days symposium: "We are starting a consortium to continue with regular activities and strengthen our efforts with the energy transition in horticulture! Thank you to 4TU.Energy for providing the means to organize this first workshop.”
Aftermovie:
Program Day-1
Program Day-2
More funded projects by 4TU.Energy can be found here.