Energy–Carbon Footprint Synergy in a Temperature-Controlled Cricket Farming System Integrating Photovoltaic/Thermal and Heat Pump Technologies

This study evaluated the energy and carbon footprints of a household-scale cricket farming system integrating a temperature control system. In the traditional system, container temperatures fluctuated with ambient conditions, limiting winter production to 4.50 cycles per year. In contrast, the hybrid photovoltaic/thermal and heat pump system, consisting of a 4.40 kW PV/T unit integrated with a 10.80 kWth heat pump, maintained stable container temperatures of 28–30 °C even when ambient temperatures dropped to 14.50 °C. This temperature stability enabled 5.50 annual cycles, representing a 37.33% increase in yield compared with the traditional system. The new system achieved an energy footprint of 5.76 MJ/kg and a carbon footprint of 3.45 kgCO2eq/kg, which were lower than those of the traditional system at 7.52 MJ/kg and 4.42 kgCO2eq/kg, respectively. These findings confirm that renewable-energy-assisted temperature control systems can enhance productivity and mitigate environmental impacts in temperature-controlled cricket farming.