Introducing renewable energy in vineyards and agricultural machinery: A way to reduce emissions and provide sustainability

Climate change, depletion of nonrenewable resources in the current energies, pollution from them and the greater ecological awareness of the population, are factors that suggest the change of energy sources in business. The wine industry is concerned about sustainability and with a clear awareness of what climate change may mean for it. This sector is supposed to have a high receptivity to the implementation of clean energy, as this favours not only the environment but also the essence of its business. This work shows how the use of renewable energy, on a small scale, can be profitable in both vineyards and wineries. For this purpose, the European project LIFE REWIND (Renewable energy in the wine industry) has developed several actions, including the installation and operation of a prototype in a Spanish winery. This paper shows how to introduce renewable energy in wineries and vineyards in a profitable way, reducing the emissions of CO₂ associated to the activity and the product, without changing the processes of cultivation or production.