Farms are always busy places whether it is a dairy or beef farm, or those involved in grain harvesting, pig or poultry production.
But how many Irish farmers take time out to consider the benefits of harvesting energy efficiency? By focusing on their energy use, farmers can easily cut their operational costs to benefit their bottom line.
The question is, are they aware of these benefits or are they doing anything about it?
How can your farm benefit
from energy efficiency?
The cheapest energy for anyone is the energy you don’t use and this is why energy efficiency has to be the priority on any farm.
Aside from reducing costs and increasing profitability, it can have many positive benefits for your farm including:
Assisting compliance with animal welfare regulations.Improved crop or product quality.Increased sales from customers encouraged to purchase sustainable produce.Where to start?
Whatever your setup, measuring, recording and benchmarking energy use across the farm is the first step to improving energy efficiency, expressed in terms of energy use per unit of output in kWh per tonne of crop, per kilo liveweight, per litre of milk, etc.
It is possible to compare your performance with others in the same business to gauge how efficient or inefficient you are.
Another simple thing such as switching electricity providers or changing tariffs could bring some savings.
Once you have your recording system in place, there’s an easy 10% in savings to be had, most at little or no cost.
Behavioural changes such as switching off equipment when not in use, or installing simple time and temperature controls, can deliver savings.
Once the easier items are actioned and the farming business is seeing positive results on the bottom line, consideration can be given to investing in proven energy-efficient technologies.
What are the key technologies?
Insulation
The first step in lowering your heating costs should be to insulate your heated buildings, whether it’s the farm house or a pig/poultry house.
Up to 25% of heating energy can be lost through poorly insulated walls and roofs.
Ventilation
Check to see that there are no unwanted air leaks around doorways and windows, and seal any crack with expanding polyurethane foam.
Consider heat recovery ventilation systems, which can deliver savings of up to 50%.
Heating
Service boilers regularly and replace ageing boilers with energy-efficient models or renewable energy systems – eg biomass boiler, ground/air source heat pump.
Energy savings of 15% to 30% are possible.
Lighting
Most agriculture and horticultural businesses use lighting. Choose light emitting diode (LED) lights as they use between 50% to 90% less energy and are widely available in a variety of fittings as direct replacement for typical bulbs, tubes or security lamps.
Consider good control systems such as dimmers, occupancy sensors and daylight sensors which can deliver an additional 30% to 50% savings.
Controls
Whether it is a simple farm house heating system or a complex heating and ventilation system in a poultry or pig farm, the use of reliable thermostats and controls cannot be over emphasised.
Further energy savings of up to 30% can be achieved and paying for itself in just a couple of years.
Variable speed drives (VSD)
VSDs have many applications in the agriculture sector – in poultry-rearing houses and grain-drying applications to control ventilation rates, in piggeries to control feed rates and on dairy farms to control vacuum pumps and milk pumps.
Transport (tractors and lorries)
Regular maintenance will ensure vehicles perform more efficiently with less fuel.
Consider integrating these fuel-saving practices into a regular maintenance schedule:
Check tyre pressure frequently and replace worn tyres.Clean dirty fuel injectors.Do not idle diesel engines for more than 10 minutes.Replace air and fuel filters regularly.Use the right tractor/lorry for the job (match horsepower up to load).The VSD with its sensors determines exactly how much vacuum the milking system requires and regulates the speed of the pump accordingly.
The result is a pump that runs at a much lower speed most of the time and using substantially less electricity, making less noise and requiring less maintenance.
Take the example of a dairy farmer milking 280 cows and spending, say, €1,200 on electricity per year in the milking parlour.
Installing a variable speed drive to his vacuum pumps could save an estimated €950 per year.
Allowing for a profit margin on milk at 7c/l, simple mathematics suggest the farmer would need to produce an extra 13,500 litres of milk (milk approximately two extra cows) to generate the same level of profit.
What supports are available?
For farmers looking to save money on energy bills, SEAI offers lots of support and information, including grants for home energy upgrades: www.seai.ie
For dairy farmers, SEAI in collaboration with Teagasc has the Dairy Farm Pilot which supports VSD on vacuum and milk pumps.
Email info@seai.ie or contact your local Teagasc dairy farm adviser.
For lighting upgrades, SEAI’s Smart Lighting Pilot Scheme offers 40% support for grouped applications. Visit www.seai.ie
Farms are always busy places whether it is a dairy or beef farm, or those involved in grain harvesting, pig or poultry production.
But how many Irish farmers take time out to consider the benefits of harvesting energy efficiency? By focusing on their energy use, farmers can easily cut their operational costs to benefit their bottom line.
The question is, are they aware of these benefits or are they doing anything about it?
How can your farm benefit
from energy efficiency?
The cheapest energy for anyone is the energy you don’t use and this is why energy efficiency has to be the priority on any farm.
Aside from reducing costs and increasing profitability, it can have many positive benefits for your farm including:
Assisting compliance with animal welfare regulations.Improved crop or product quality.Increased sales from customers encouraged to purchase sustainable produce.Where to start?
Whatever your setup, measuring, recording and benchmarking energy use across the farm is the first step to improving energy efficiency, expressed in terms of energy use per unit of output in kWh per tonne of crop, per kilo liveweight, per litre of milk, etc.
It is possible to compare your performance with others in the same business to gauge how efficient or inefficient you are.
Another simple thing such as switching electricity providers or changing tariffs could bring some savings.
Once you have your recording system in place, there’s an easy 10% in savings to be had, most at little or no cost.
Behavioural changes such as switching off equipment when not in use, or installing simple time and temperature controls, can deliver savings.
Once the easier items are actioned and the farming business is seeing positive results on the bottom line, consideration can be given to investing in proven energy-efficient technologies.
What are the key technologies?
Insulation
The first step in lowering your heating costs should be to insulate your heated buildings, whether it’s the farm house or a pig/poultry house.
Up to 25% of heating energy can be lost through poorly insulated walls and roofs.
Ventilation
Check to see that there are no unwanted air leaks around doorways and windows, and seal any crack with expanding polyurethane foam.
Consider heat recovery ventilation systems, which can deliver savings of up to 50%.
Heating
Service boilers regularly and replace ageing boilers with energy-efficient models or renewable energy systems – eg biomass boiler, ground/air source heat pump.
Energy savings of 15% to 30% are possible.
Lighting
Most agriculture and horticultural businesses use lighting. Choose light emitting diode (LED) lights as they use between 50% to 90% less energy and are widely available in a variety of fittings as direct replacement for typical bulbs, tubes or security lamps.
Consider good control systems such as dimmers, occupancy sensors and daylight sensors which can deliver an additional 30% to 50% savings.
Controls
Whether it is a simple farm house heating system or a complex heating and ventilation system in a poultry or pig farm, the use of reliable thermostats and controls cannot be over emphasised.
Further energy savings of up to 30% can be achieved and paying for itself in just a couple of years.
Variable speed drives (VSD)
VSDs have many applications in the agriculture sector – in poultry-rearing houses and grain-drying applications to control ventilation rates, in piggeries to control feed rates and on dairy farms to control vacuum pumps and milk pumps.
Transport (tractors and lorries)
Regular maintenance will ensure vehicles perform more efficiently with less fuel.
Consider integrating these fuel-saving practices into a regular maintenance schedule:
Check tyre pressure frequently and replace worn tyres.Clean dirty fuel injectors.Do not idle diesel engines for more than 10 minutes.Replace air and fuel filters regularly.Use the right tractor/lorry for the job (match horsepower up to load).The VSD with its sensors determines exactly how much vacuum the milking system requires and regulates the speed of the pump accordingly.
The result is a pump that runs at a much lower speed most of the time and using substantially less electricity, making less noise and requiring less maintenance.
Take the example of a dairy farmer milking 280 cows and spending, say, €1,200 on electricity per year in the milking parlour.
Installing a variable speed drive to his vacuum pumps could save an estimated €950 per year.
Allowing for a profit margin on milk at 7c/l, simple mathematics suggest the farmer would need to produce an extra 13,500 litres of milk (milk approximately two extra cows) to generate the same level of profit.
What supports are available?
For farmers looking to save money on energy bills, SEAI offers lots of support and information, including grants for home energy upgrades: www.seai.ie
For dairy farmers, SEAI in collaboration with Teagasc has the Dairy Farm Pilot which supports VSD on vacuum and milk pumps.
Email info@seai.ie or contact your local Teagasc dairy farm adviser.
For lighting upgrades, SEAI’s Smart Lighting Pilot Scheme offers 40% support for grouped applications. Visit www.seai.ie
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