Agriculture: a new source of energy. Bernard Reynier.

The control of energy, the potential of agricultural products as a substitute for oil, gas and derivatives. Marketing channels to be developed.

Introduction

Controlling energy in the construction and then operation of residential and tertiary buildings is a strategic issue (energy law of July 13, 2005). In 2004, the housing sector will have consumed 46% of national primary energy and contributed to 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. A large part of the elementary constituents come from fossil fuels or their derivatives (manufacture, cooking, drying of heavy materials, insulators such as polystyrenes, PVC openings, plastics, etc.). Finally, through the energy consumed to produce these materials, their production costs are doomed to grow exponentially.

This is why we must gradually produce materials independent of fossil fuels, with reinforced thermal qualities, economical in manufacturing energy. With the corollary of a reduced use of mineral raw materials (clays, etc.) while facilitating the recycling of these materials during deconstruction at the end of the use cycle.

The market for home renovation for the sole purpose of reducing energy costs is enormous. The annual flow can be estimated at more than 800 old homes to which will be added the 000 new homes ...

Agro resources are at the confluence of these requirements!

Their development allows us to glimpse from the years 2007 - 2010 - 2015:

AT - Agricultural production of high value-added products, with consequences for the creation of long-term jobs, the stabilization or even the growth of rural populations, in particular those of Midi-Pyrenees.

This change of state through reflection and long-term partnerships between the three stakeholders: Research - Industrialists - Farmers.

The latter having to adapt their crops to needs, new climatic conditions (droughts and water shortages?) And transformation of their products which will thus evolve from agro-food products to agro-materials. This transition will take place over one to two decades. But this is one of the avenues for development in the agricultural world, taking into account the economic environment and the CAP in the years after 2013 ... Agricultural federations and in particular "Young Farmers" must therefore be associated with the emergence of these new avenues of development.

B - New sources of valuation of agriculture while reducing transport and exchange of raw materials, by creating non-relocatable jobs rooted in the territories ... While globalization is destroying entire sections of our economies, the production of these materials from agriculture represents a significant innovative economic potential, an opportunity comparable to that of the Eole from Clément Ader at the end of the last century for today's aeronautics ...

The Universities of Midi Pyrenees have the best skills to design, develop with regional farmers and manufacturers the first demonstration of these new materials (brick, insulating, promoters, etc.).

As factual examples, the following are quasi-mature industrial development projects coupling our Research capacities with those of Farmers and Industries in the large field of construction:

• Industrial Manufacturing:

- New bricks, breeze blocks, prefabricated frameworks, insulators (with incomparable organic qualities / mineral wool),
- New plastics (replacing certain PVC),
- New heat transfer fluids with enhanced thermal qualities,
- New coatings and binders, new biodegradable lubricants (formwork),
- New wood treatments (exponentially growing)
- Recycling of construction materials (especially plaster residues)

• With corollary the implementation of:

- New production professions (agricultural and industrial) and implementation of these new materials,
- New training and employment courses within the construction industry and the export of these new concepts.

Initially, these agro resources will complement traditional raw materials.
This is how we can imagine bodies composed of clays or concrete with the addition of organic matter ...

C - The implementation of new marketing and distribution circuits on the national territory, generating jobs throughout the circuits created (marketing, distribution, POSE), lower costs and energy savings for users and the nation.

It is no longer bearable that the eco-materials produced in France are hardly distributed there ... that their use requires purchases outside borders with the unnecessary and polluting transport associated with these marketing methods ...