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GEOTHERMAL ENERGY & FLORICULTURE: SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR THE CULTIVATION OF TROPICAL PLANTS

FLORAMIATA has 183,000 sq. m of iron-glass and iron-polycarbonate greenhouses and 55,000 sq. m of single and multiple tunnels with geothermal heating.
The production plants aim at a cultivation that has the lowest environmental impact possible. The heating is connected to mobile thermal shields that allow shading and energy saving, reducing heat dissipation of 30% through irradiation. The sprinkling irrigation systems are used to control the correct levels of humidity; the irrigation systems are mainly drip system and capillary carpet that allow maximum water saving

30491

tons of carbon dioxide prevented every year!

Geothermal energy supplies the company about 114 million kWh every year. If said heat were to be produced using diesel this would require more than 9,570 tons of this fuel, a quantity equal to 9.3% of the annual need of the province of Siena,

600

tons of C02 removed by plants every year

The plants we produce, through their photosynthetic processes, remove carbon dioxide fixing the CO2 present in the environment. It has been calculated that the 3 million ornamental plants produced annually retain about 600 tons of carbon dioxide in their tissues, equal to the quantity removed every year by 55 hectares of chestnut grove!

Carbon free. Our aim.

Floramiata set itself an ambitious goal in terms of environmental sustainability and decided to independently provide itself with a tool to control and monitor greenhouse gas emissions, giving rise to a project involving the verification and subsequent certification of CO2 emission reductions, with the aim of being recognised as the first carbon-free floricultural company in Italy. To reach this target, the CO2 emissions from the facilities must be zero, i.e. the company must show that the emissions it generates during its production cycle are compensated by the reabsorption capacity of the plants it produces.

Floramiata starts from a position of advantage in that its greenhouses are heated by thermal energy at around 80°C downstream from an electrical production cycle operated by Enel Green Power. Wi- thout the remote heating system that supplies the production complex, this energy would simply be dispersed into the environment without being utilised. Starting from 2017, the new management has decided to acquire certified renewable and carbon-free electrical energy from the market and this, together with an increase in the number of plants cultivated, the use of biodegradable plastic materials and the use of biological control has enabled an improvement in the facility’s sustainability performance .

Floramiata has MPS certification. MPS-ABC is a certification for sustainable farm management. The standard is widely adopted and recognised throughout the world and requires systematic recording of the consumption of plant protection products, fertilisers, energy, water and waste. This allows constant assessment of environmental impact levels during the various stages of cultivation. In addition to being a useful environmental monitoring and management tool, MPS-ABC also vouches for the degree of social responsibility and overall level of environmental sustainability attained by the certified company.

Learn more, visit www.my-mps.com