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Agriculture and agro-based industries consume more energy, mainly derived from fossil fuels. The postharvest storage of agricultural products is crucial for the minimization of postharvest losses, which, throughout the supply chain, are controlled through the provision of optimum temperature and relative humidity conditions. A technoeconomic assessment of nonconventional energy resources (solar, wind and hybrid) in Sudan revealed that solar PV was more suitable in most studied sites for irrigation water pumping, as compared to wind and wind-solar hybrid energy systems [[4]]. [Extracted from the article]

The agricultural products are perishable in nature and possesses short shelf/storage life under ambient conditions. The temperature and humidity control systems are required to enhance to storage life of the products with optimum quality, quantity and nutritive attributes. In this regard, the significance of air-conditioning in storage application is highlighted along with the conventional storage options. The implications of compressor-based refrigeration and air-conditioning systems regarding low-cost and energy efficient air-conditioning systems are discussed in detailed. It is concluded that thermally driven air-conditioning systems can be used on top priority for the short-term storage of fresh agricultural products. Moreover, the long-term storage of products at freezing temperature can be made through hybrid systems instead of standalone conventional compressor based vapor compression refrigeration and/or air-conditioning systems. Finally, the air-conditioning systems are proposed for the optimum storage of different categorize of the food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]