Technical Paper
Barriers to Adoption of Alternative Fuels for Agricultural Machinery: A Study on a Group of Italian Farmers
2022-09-16
2022-24-0028
More than half of the global emissions due to energy use in agriculture derives from the combustion of fossil fuels to power tractors and machineries. Paying attention to energy sources and fossil fuels use in agriculture could offer significant opportunities for on-farm mitigation actions directly focused on CO2. With this regard, the reduction of fossil fuels, and the increasing use of energy sources which are not petroleum-based, are key factors for the development of energy security and the achievement of carbon emissions reduction in agriculture. In recent years, agricultural machinery manufacturers started investing in solutions powered by renewable energy sources and a first-generation of tractor prototypes fueled by e-fuel, biomethane or hydrogen, are currently under development.