MOOC: Powering Agriculture – Sustainable Energy for Food

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Course at a Glance

The global initiative “Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development (PAEGC)” in cooperation with TH Köln – University of Applied Science offered a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on “Powering Agriculture – Sustainable Energy for Food”. Further contributing organizations were the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Tetra Tech, the World Bank, as well as the Center for Development Research (ZEF).

The 8-week course ran from Feb 1 to Mar 27, 2016. It introduced the participants to the Energy-Agriculture Nexus and approaches for sustainably providing energy throughout all stages of agricultural value chains. Challenges but also solutions were analyzed, concrete technologies were examined focusing on their utility to promote access to clean energy. 

Find the MOOC platform with all course material here.


Background

Around one third of the energy used worldwide goes into the production and processing of food from field to table. Given the current energy system mix, the agrifood industry sector is however heavily dependent on fossil fuel inputs for production, transport, processing and distribution, and contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. With a continuously growing world population the need for food and for energy to produce is increasing. At the same time millions of farmers and processors in developing countries and emerging economies lack access to clean energy technologies for irrigation, drying, cooling, storage and other processes. 

How can these needs be met sustainably? We have to produce more food with less energy, make energy use more efficient, and introduce and upscale more clean energy technologies.


About the Course

The MOOC is a web-based intensive course with flexible participation, online-video as well as offline reading material, and an online forum. It was offered on the Global Campus 21 platform of GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH), with all learning materials and documents available for offline work. The aim was to build a vibrant learning community focused on co-creating solutions.

In this course, we gave an introduction to the Agriculture and Energy Nexus (video lecture) and introduced approaches for sustainably providing energy throughout all stages of agricultural value chains – focusing on a developing and emerging country context.

Central concerns were: How can we support the use of clean energy in developing countries and emerging economies within the agriculture and food sector? How can we contribute to reducing the large quantities of agricultural products going to waste every day, and thereby contributing to food security, both globally and locally?’

The participants looked at different clean energy technologies such as biogas- and solar powered- technologies and examined how those can promote access to clean energy. Together, participants explored potential applications of these technologies in agricultural value chains by jointly analysing case studies from all over the globe.

Participants learned that – while there is general consent on the importance of ‘clean energy’ and food security – approaches to tackle existing challenges vary enormously. Economic and political factors play a big role within the Agriculture and Energy Nexus, and may either push or restrain progress towards a more sustainable energy use.


Course Material

Week 1:
Introduction

Week 1: Introduction to the Energy-Agriculture Nexus

  • Introduction to the Energy-Agriculture Nexus
  • Energy Input in Agricultural Value Chains


Find the videos of week 1 via the following links: 

Further material:


Week 2-4:
Renewable Energy Technologies and Energy Efficiency in Agricultural Value Chains

Week 2: Renewable Energy Resources and Technology Overview


Find the video of week 2 via the following link:

Further material:

  • Article on renewable energy resources and technologies here


Week 3: Bioenergy Overview


Find the video of week 3 via the following link:

Further material:


Week 4: Energy Efficiency in the Energy-Agriculture Nexus


Find the video of week 4 via the following link: 

Further material:


Week 5-7:
The Economics of the Energy-Agriculture Nexus

Week 5: Policies and Regulations for the Energy-Agriculture Nexus


Find the video of week 5 via the following link: 

Further material:


Week 6: Energy and Agriculture on Micro Level


Find the video of week 6 via the following link: 

Further material:


Week 7: Business Models for Projects in Energy-Agriculture Nexus


Find the video of week 7 via the following link: 

Further material:

  • Article on business models for the energy-agriculture nexus here
  • Case Study by FAO: "Techno-economic Analysis of Solar Pumps for sustainable Irrigation in Bangladesh" 
  • Reader, including 3 real life examples: a gasification power plant fueled with rice husks in Vietnam; a solar dryer for drying fruits; and biogas plant for a farm
  • Additional material


Week 8: Summary

  • Summary


Find the video of week 8 via the following link: 

Further material:


The Global Initiative PAEGC and its Partners

Powering Agriculture – An Energy Grand Challenge (PAEGC) seeks to identify and support new and sustainable approaches to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy solutions for increasing agriculture productivity and/or value in developing countries. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Duke Energy, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) have combined resources to fund Powering Agriculture. GIZ supports the initiative on behalf of BMZ.  www.poweringag.org


Related Links

https://poweringag.org
http://www.bmz.de/en/
https://www.usaid.gov/
http://www.sida.se/English/
https://www.giz.de/en/
https://www.th-koeln.de/en/


Further Information

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