IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2020i1p137-d468191.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agrivoltaics Align with Green New Deal Goals While Supporting Investment in the US’ Rural Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Kyle W. Proctor

    (Water Resources Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
    Biological and Ecological Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA)

  • Ganti S. Murthy

    (Water Resources Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
    Biological and Ecological Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
    Discipline of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Indore, Khandwa Road, Simrol, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 453552, India)

  • Chad W. Higgins

    (Water Resources Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
    Biological and Ecological Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA)

Abstract

Agrivoltaic systems combine solar photovoltaic energy production with agriculture to improve land-use efficiency. We provide an upper-bound reduced-order cost estimate for widespread implementation of Agrivoltaic systems in the United States. We find that 20% of the US’ total electricity generation can be met with Agrivoltaic systems if less than 1% of the annual US budget is invested into rural infrastructure. Simultaneously, Agrivoltaic systems align well with existing Green New Deal goals. Widescale installation of Agrivoltaic systems can lead to a carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions reduction equivalent to removing 71,000 cars from the road annually and the creation of over 100,000 jobs in rural communities. Agrivoltaics provide a rare chance for true synergy: more food, more energy, lower water demand, lower carbon emissions, and more prosperous rural communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyle W. Proctor & Ganti S. Murthy & Chad W. Higgins, 2020. "Agrivoltaics Align with Green New Deal Goals While Supporting Investment in the US’ Rural Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:137-:d:468191
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/137/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/137/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cameron, Lachlan & van der Zwaan, Bob, 2015. "Employment factors for wind and solar energy technologies: A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 160-172.
    2. Elamri, Y. & Cheviron, B. & Lopez, J.-M. & Dejean, C. & Belaud, G., 2018. "Water budget and crop modelling for agrivoltaic systems: Application to irrigated lettuces," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 440-453.
    3. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo & de Castro, Carlos & Arto, Iñaki, 2017. "Assessing vulnerabilities and limits in the transition to renewable energies: Land requirements under 100% solar energy scenarios," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 760-782.
    4. Wiser, Ryan & Millstein, Dev & Mai, Trieu & Macknick, Jordan & Carpenter, Alberta & Cohen, Stuart & Cole, Wesley & Frew, Bethany & Heath, Garvin, 2016. "The environmental and public health benefits of achieving high penetrations of solar energy in the United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 472-486.
    5. Dinesh, Harshavardhan & Pearce, Joshua M., 2016. "The potential of agrivoltaic systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 299-308.
    6. Gallai, Nicola & Salles, Jean-Michel & Settele, Josef & Vaissière, Bernard E., 2009. "Economic valuation of the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted with pollinator decline," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 810-821, January.
    7. Hondo, Hiroki & Moriizumi, Yue, 2017. "Employment creation potential of renewable power generation technologies: A life cycle approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 128-136.
    8. S. Nazrul Islam & John Winkel, 2017. "Climate Change and Social Inequality," Working Papers 152, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    9. Pender, John & Hertz, Thomas & Cromartie, John & Farrigan, Tracey, 2019. "Rural America at a Glance, 2019 Edition," Economic Information Bulletin 301077, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    10. Raúl Aroca-Delgado & José Pérez-Alonso & Ángel Jesús Callejón-Ferre & Borja Velázquez-Martí, 2018. "Compatibility between Crops and Solar Panels: An Overview from Shading Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-19, March.
    11. Gallai, Nicola & Salles, Jean-Michel & Settele, Josef & Vaissière, Bernard E., 2009. "Economic valuation of the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted with pollinator decline," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 810-821, January.
    12. Sanya Carley & David M. Konisky, 2020. "The justice and equity implications of the clean energy transition," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 5(8), pages 569-577, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aidana Chalgynbayeva & Tamás Mizik & Attila Bai, 2022. "Cost–Benefit Analysis of Kaposvár Solar Photovoltaic Park Considering Agrivoltaic Systems," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Cuppari, Rosa I. & Higgins, Chad W. & Characklis, Gregory W., 2021. "Agrivoltaics and weather risk: A diversification strategy for landowners," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    3. Dohlman, Erik & Maguire, Karen & Davis, Wilma V. & Husby, Megan & Bovay, John & Weber, Catharine & Lee, Yoonjung, 2024. "Trends, Insights, and Future Prospects for Production in Controlled Environment Agriculture and Agrivoltaics Systems," Economic Information Bulletin 340508, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Zainali, Sebastian & Ma Lu, Silvia & Stridh, Bengt & Avelin, Anders & Amaducci, Stefano & Colauzzi, Michele & Campana, Pietro Elia, 2023. "Direct and diffuse shading factors modelling for the most representative agrivoltaic system layouts," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    5. Wang, Hsiao-Wen & Dodd, Adrienne & Ko, Yekang, 2022. "Resolving the conflict of greens: A GIS-based and participatory least-conflict siting framework for solar energy development in southwest Taiwan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 879-892.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mamun, Mohammad Abdullah Al & Dargusch, Paul & Wadley, David & Zulkarnain, Noor Azwa & Aziz, Ammar Abdul, 2022. "A review of research on agrivoltaic systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    2. Carlos Toledo & Alessandra Scognamiglio, 2021. "Agrivoltaic Systems Design and Assessment: A Critical Review, and a Descriptive Model towards a Sustainable Landscape Vision (Three-Dimensional Agrivoltaic Patterns)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-38, June.
    3. Luigi Aldieri & Jonas Grafström & Kristoffer Sundström & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2019. "Wind Power and Job Creation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, December.
    4. Balzan, Mario V & Caruana, Julio & Zammit, Annrica, 2018. "Assessing the capacity and flow of ecosystem services in multifunctional landscapes: Evidence of a rural-urban gradient in a Mediterranean small island state," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 711-725.
    5. Smith, Helen F. & Sullivan, Caroline A., 2014. "Ecosystem services within agricultural landscapes—Farmers' perceptions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 72-80.
    6. Kathrin Stenchly & Marc Victor Hansen & Katharina Stein & Andreas Buerkert & Wilhelm Loewenstein, 2018. "Income Vulnerability of West African Farming Households to Losses in Pollination Services: A Case Study from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-12, November.
    7. Grazia Zulian & Joachim Maes & Maria Luisa Paracchini, 2013. "Linking Land Cover Data and Crop Yields for Mapping and Assessment of Pollination Services in Europe," Land, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-21, September.
    8. Schindele, Stephan & Trommsdorff, Maximilian & Schlaak, Albert & Obergfell, Tabea & Bopp, Georg & Reise, Christian & Braun, Christian & Weselek, Axel & Bauerle, Andrea & Högy, Petra & Goetzberger, Ado, 2020. "Implementation of agrophotovoltaics: Techno-economic analysis of the price-performance ratio and its policy implications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    9. Lippert, Christian & Feuerbacher, Arndt & Narjes, Manuel, 2021. "Revisiting the economic valuation of agricultural losses due to large-scale changes in pollinator populations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    10. Luciano Pilati & Vasco Boatto, 2014. "Jointness in Sites: The Case of Migratory Beekeeping," DEM Discussion Papers 2014/10, Department of Economics and Management.
    11. Anna Zsofia Bajomi & Nóra Feldmár & Sergio Tirado-Herrero, 2021. "Will Plans to Ease Energy Poverty Go Up in Smoke? Assessing the Hungarian NECP through the Lens of Solid Fuel Users’ Vulnerabilities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-20, November.
    12. Nicholas W Calderone, 2012. "Insect Pollinated Crops, Insect Pollinators and US Agriculture: Trend Analysis of Aggregate Data for the Period 1992–2009," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(5), pages 1-27, May.
    13. Soy-Massoni, Emma & Langemeyer, Johannes & Varga, Diego & Sáez, Marc & Pintó, Josep, 2016. "The importance of ecosystem services in coastal agricultural landscapes: Case study from the Costa Brava, Catalonia," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 43-52.
    14. Miettinen, Antti & Korpela, Eeva-Liisa & Hyytiäinen, Kari & Kuussaari, Mikko, 2014. "Cost-effectiveness of agri-environmental measures when aiming at promoting ecosystem service availability, species diversity or species of conservation concern," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182686, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. repec:idb:brikps:64718 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Basualdo, Marina & Cavigliasso, Pablo & de Avila, Rubem Samuel & Aldea-Sánchez, Patricia & Correa-Benítez, Adriana & Harms, Jaime Martínez & Ramos, Ana Karen & Rojas-Bravo, Valeska & Salvarrey, Sheena, 2022. "Current status and economic value of insect-pollinated dependent crops in Latin America," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    17. Ioannis Arzoumanidis & Andrea Raggi & Luigia Petti, 2019. "Life Cycle Assessment of Honey: Considering the Pollination Service," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, March.
    18. Arvanitopoulos, T. & Agnolucci, P., 2020. "The long-term effect of renewable electricity on employment in the United Kingdom," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    19. Lafuite, A.-S. & Loreau, M., 2017. "Time-delayed biodiversity feedbacks and the sustainability of social-ecological systems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 351(C), pages 96-108.
    20. Patricia A. Henríquez-Piskulich & Constanza Schapheer & Nicolas J. Vereecken & Cristian Villagra, 2021. "Agroecological Strategies to Safeguard Insect Pollinators in Biodiversity Hotspots: Chile as a Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-31, June.
    21. Centner, Terence J. & Brewer, Brady & Leal, Isaac, 2018. "Reducing damages from sulfoxaflor use through mitigation measures to increase the protection of pollinator species," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 70-76.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:137-:d:468191. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.