Dutch growers strive to be free of fossil fuels by 2020

In a push to be independent of fossil fuels by 2020, the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Food Safety created the Program for the Greenhouse as a Source of Energy, which promotes solar and geothermal energy, biofuel and low-energy plant varieties.

Between 1980 and 2003 the Dutch greenhouse industry successfully halved energy consumption per product unit by applying energy-saving technology. In 2010 savings are expected to reach 65 percent.

Despite the significant decreases, the greenhouse industry is still a major energy consumer, accounting for 10 percent of domestic natural gas consumption and 5 percent of national energy consumption, according to Flower Council of Holland.

Dutch growers want to go from energy consumer to energy supplier. Already more than 10 percent of domestic electricity consumed in the Netherlands is supplied by horticulturists with cogeneration plants. There are also plans to supply residual heat from growers to homes.

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For more: Flower Council of Holland, telephone (011) 44 1722 337505; www.flowercouncil.org. Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Food Safety, telephone (011) 31 70 378 40 62; www.minlnv.nl.