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Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
March 2011COABC Annual Conference
Guy Dauncey
www.certifiedorganic.bc.ca
We’ve come a long way from this….
To this …
but…
Smithore Dreamstime.com
We’ve also come to this…
Is our whole world being contaminated?
The Great Transition Humanity's Journey to Harmony with the Earth
We need…
A Green Economy
Harmony with Nature
True Sustainability
We need…
A 100% Shift to Renewable
Energy
Martinedegraaf Dreamstime.com
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
27 farms assessed in 2010. Final report due soon.Emily MacNair, BC Agriculture and Food Climate Action Initiative
250-356-1666 [email protected]. www.bcagclimateaction.ca.
www.bcagclimateaction.ca
www.ruralenergy.wisc.eduZip Code 98236
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
The Sun is rapidly settingon the Age of Fossil Fuels.
is the Age of Fossil Fuels
This10,000 years past
10,000 years future
Is this the future?
“In recognition of the coming oil prices, I name this ship……
Cultivating one hectare of corn in the US requires 40 litres of gasoline and 75 litres of diesel
US yield = 9 tonnes/hectare1 tonne requires 12 litres of fuel
Chilliwack corn harvest
John Deere 8430 PST
Electric Tractor
Glynwood Farm, Cold Spring, New York
GE Elec Trak, small electric tractor originally sold in the 1970s.
Recharges from normal outlet or solar panels.
Front-mounted mower deck, three-foot roto-tiller
Annual cost savings $300-$400
20-horse power Tuff Bilt tractor convertedto all-electric cultivating tractor
35 cents/hour vs $2/hour
Electric Tractor AA Technologies, Georgia
www.aatev.com
Canadian Electric VehiclesErrington, BC www.canev.com
1500 lb capacity15-25 mph90 km range
Case IH Biodiesel Tractor
New Holland Fuel Cell Tractor106 HP
DIY Biodiesel
Biodiesel FuelPod 3100 litres a day - 70 cents a gallon
$6,49520 cents a litre
Essex Farm, New York State
www.kristinkimball.com/essex-farm
“We currently farm 600 acres and feed 222 members. We are powered by fifteen solar panels, nine draft horses, ten full-time farmers, and three tractors. We do not use synthetic fertilizer, herbicide, or pesticide. Our animals eat feed we’ve grown ourselves or local hay and local, certified organic grain.”
The old becomes the new….
Baling HayTo grow biofuel for all the tractors in America would use 26% of America’s cropland. Using horses would require 11%. An economic comparison of traditional and conventional agricultural systems at a county level, M.H. Bender, American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, Dec. 15, 2000, Vol 16 www.landinstitute.org/pages/Bender%20AJAA%202000.pdf
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
• Insulation• Farm building walls +R20 ceilings +R30• Caulking & weatherstripping• Tight fitting windows in farm buildings• Air-source or ground-source heat• Heat-recovery ventilators• Thermostats & timers• Lighting• LiveSmart incentives at www.livesmartbc.ca
In the winter of 2008, we replaced the more traditional forced-hot-air heating unit in our main greenhouse with an innovative radiant heating system that uses a propane hot water heater and a circulating pump that sends the hot water through flexible tubing on the greenhouse benches.
80% savings on the cost of heating our greenhouse - repays in less than two years
Because the plants are heated at the root zone immediately on top of the tubing, the result is much stronger seedling production, and higher yields.
Glynwood Farm, Cold Spring, New York
Solar Greenhouses
Vermont Herb and Salad Company
Two 30 x 90 heated greenhouses for starting seedlings and winter greens productionFour 30 x 100 unheated greenhouses for in-season production of leafy greens
Vermont Herb and Salad Company
Two 30 x 90 heated greenhousesSequoyah Model E3400 Gasification Outdoor Wood Furnace
Cost $11,500 + renovations $4,000 Total cost $30,000Pressurized hot water distributed by pex tubing + heat exchangerNormally: 1200 gallons of oil a month through 4 months of winter. $3/gallon = $3600 a month Wood furnace: half a cord/day = $750/month. Total fuel saving = $14,000 a year
Bubble Insulated Greenhouse
30 inches soap bubbles = R-30Pioneered by Ross and Kat Elliot in Perth, Ontario10-12 month growing season in Yukon
Eliot Coleman
Four-season harvest
Maine
CoolBot replaces the brute force of fans and surface area with a micro-controller brain that interfaces with your air conditioner.
It controls and co-ordinates its output so that you can access nearly all your cooling power, with temperatures in the 30's without re-wiring or freeze-ups.
www.storeitcold.com
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
Dairy farm electrical energy savings potential
Lighting
Sealed compact fluorescent lighting in the barn provides a superior lighting environment compared to incandescent
Savings = $1,500 a year
Add photoperiodic control system with sensor and timer to dim or shut off lights when not needed
Poultry Barn Lighting
66% electrical saving= $3,800 saved
per barn per year
(A) infrared tube heaters(B) sealed fluorescent lighting(C) photocell lighting control(D) chimney fan
Heat Pads
www.omafra.gov.on.ca
Variable speed drive pump - operates at 30%of load for 90% of the time
The milk is so cool entering the bulk tank that the refrigeration compressors cycle off during milking time
Mayval Farm, Westhampton, Massachusetts
www.energy.blog.state.ma.us/blog/farm-based-energy
(A) variable frequency drive(B) power filter on the variable frequency drive
(C) variable frequency drive vacuum pump
Ceiling of the milking parlour:5 lamp 4 foot T-8 fluorescent lighting fixtures
+ high volume, low velocity circulation fan
100% more airflow (cubic feet per minute) 50% energy savings = $400 savings pa.
Add dimmers and motion sensors
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
Motors - use 18% of all energy use on the farm
Refrigeration - can be fitted with heat recovery units - milk pre-coolers - scroll compressors - water cooled plate coolers - variable speed milk pumps
Dairy - refrigeration heat recovery, precoolers, high efficiency heaters, scroll refrigeration compressors.
Greenhouse - heaters, boilers, thermal curtains, glazing
Potato storage - variable speed drives on storage ventilation - energy savings up to 65%, decreased shrinkage of potatoes
www.omafra.gov.on.ca
www.geopathfinder.com/9473.html
NRG Solar DryerExperimental.Mumbai, India
Solar dryer for mushroom drying, Itola, India
Laughing Stock Farm, Montana Biodiesel heated greenhouse
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
No incentives in BCCost = $8,000 per kW
1 kW = 1,100 kWh a year@ 8 cents = $88 pa saving
The Price of Solar PV
Solar electric fencing
Solar water pump
Solar irrigation, California
Solar wall
Steve Veldman, 75 cow dairy farm, OntarioCost in 1990: $1200. Never has to heat the building
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
Wind energy and its applications for BC’s agriculture sector
Agri-Energy Forum Pacific Agriculture ShowTRADEX Abbotsford AirportAbbotsford, B.C.
January 27, 2011Nicholas Heap, BC Policy Manager
#200 - 420 W. Hastings St.Vancouver, BC V6B 1L1
(800) 922-6932 x244(604) 351-7067
82
What’s so good about wind power for the agriculture sector?
• Large wind:– A reliable, long term source of income. – A high value “cash crop” in terms of income per hectare.
• Community wind:– Provides energy independence– Can increase reliability (hybrid wind/diesel or
wind/battery systems)
• Small wind:– Can be lowest-cost option for off-grid applications
Photo: Tim Weis, Pembina Institute
x
Source: BC Hydro
Where BC’s wind is: mesoscale model
Note: these low resolution models miss some good
wind sites
North Coast
Southern Interior
Northern Interior
Northeast
Where BC’s wind is: investigative permits
Note: You know more about thewind on your
land than anyone
Source: BC Hydro
• Market and prospects– On-grid residential, net metered systems can provide
10% to 150% of house electricity– 300 - 400 systems in Canada to date– Buyer motivation: environmental interests,
longer-term paybacks
• Typical application– Roughly $7,000 - $8,000 per kW– Capacity factor : 15% - 20% for a well-sited system– 10 kW installation: $70,000 = 15 MWh per year– A 1 kW installation: $7,000 = ~ 1 MWh per year
Small-size residential systems 1 kW to 10 kW
Photos: Cascadia Pacific Realty / Pembina Institute
• Market and prospects– On-grid farm systems can provide >50%
of electricity– Under 100 systems in Canada to date– Buyer motivation: stable long-term cost of
electricity, interest in energy independence
• Typical application– Roughly $5,500 - $6,500 per kW– Capacity factor : 15% - 20% for a well-sited system– A 50 kW installation: $250,000 providing 87 MWh per year
(enough for 8 average homes)
Mid-sized farm systems (10 kW to 100 kW)
Photos: Cascadia Pacific Realty / Pembina Institute
About CanWEA
• For more information and resources on wind www.canwea.ca
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
Microhydro energy
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
energy.blog.state.ma.us/blog/farm-based-energy
Appleton Farms (CSA) Hamilton/Ipswich. 1000 acre dairy, livestock, vegetables, grain, cheese-making.
Evacuated tube, solar thermal hot water system provides high temperature hot water for dairy and cheese-making, combined with hot water refrigerant heat recovery tank
Annie’s Acres, CSA Farm, Wisconsin
400 ft 1/2 inch poly pipe in box with 2”construction foam backing
6 mil plastic
Enough for family of four on sunny days150F hot waterCost $100, 12 hours labourNot for winter use (water, not glycol)
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
Sandia National Laboratories, 2009
Miscanthus Sweet Sorghum
Short rotation coppice Camelina sativa
Copyright 2008, Midwest Research Institute.
Aerial view of a pilot plant (Seambiotic Ltd., Tel Aviv) growing Nannochloropsis algae using
flue gas CO2 from a coal-fired Power Plant near Ashkelon, Israel.
Photo: Professor Ami Ben-Amotz
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
Anaerobic digestion is a way of producing biogas from biomass sources such as energy crops, farmyard residues or food waste.
As well as biogas, the process leaves a solid residue, or bio-fertiliser. It can also be used for combined heat and power or fed into the natural gas grid as biomethane.
Anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic digestion turns manure into fertilizer. Biogas co-generation creates electricity and heat.
Biogas (methane)
Biogas in India 25 kg dung = 3 hours gas
www.bcfarmbiogas.ca
www.ecodairy.ca
Anaerobic Digestion Funding
Enviro-loan - Farm Credit CanadaAAFC AgriFlexibility Fund
BC Environmental Farm Plan
Energy sales: SOP 9.5 - 10.4 cents kWh Feed-In Tariff: 14 - 18 cents kWh??
FortisBC Biogas sales: $15/GJ
www. bcfarmbiogas.ca
www.fortisbc.com/Biogas
Manure1 tonne of manure = 0.0055kW = 48 kWh year
200 cows manure + 25% dough, fats, oil and grease1 tonne of high-energy feedstock = 0.055kW = 482kWh year
Heat: 1,149,570kWh x 1.4 = 1,609,398kWh heat/year.
Total revenueIf electricity sold for $0.10/kWh, revenue from electricity will be: 1,495,170kWh x $0.10 = $149,517/year.
If electricity sold for $0.14/kWh, revenue from electricity will be: 1,495,170kWh x $0.14 = $209,324/year.
Biogas
What’s needed for biogas to work?1. Manure 2. Top level political will 3. Technical support …4. Net metering 5. Grid access 6. A long-term guaranteed price ? ?7. Federal support (tax credits) …8. Provincial support (eg 30% subsidy) …9. BC Utilities Commission support …10.BC Hydro support 11. Investors 12.Farmers working together …
www.biomasstrader.org/bc
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
Biochar is charcoal created by pyrolysis of biomass, and differs from charcoal in that its primary use is not for
fuel, but for biosequestration or atmospheric carbon capture and storage.
Charcoal is a stable solid rich in carbon content, and can be used to lock carbon in the soil for hundreds to thousands of years.
Making biochar at Shelburne Farms, Lake Champlain, Vermont
www.biocharworks.com
Without biochar
With biochar
www.biochar.info Zero Carbon Project, Switzerland
Farm Energy
AuditVehicles Buildings Equipment
Solar Wind MicrohydroSolar
Hot Water
BiofuelsBiogas/Methane
BiocharSoil
CarbonStorage
Sustainable EnergyDown on the Farm
Grassland Ranching Large cause of soil carbon loss
Native grasslands store a huge amount of carbon
Predators protect the grasslands… and their soil
Herd animals always cluster together, for safety against predators
Throughout history, around the world, farmers have rarely understood how the predators
protect the grasslands.
Without the wolves, the herds “scatter-graze”. Gophers and rabbits take over,
and the grasslands are destroyed.
The Solution:
Rotational grazing
Mob-stocking
Management-intensive grazing
Holistic management
“Our beeves are kept together and rotated often to simulate the grazing patterns of ancient herds
maintaining natural balance in grasslands.”- James Ranch, Colorado
Holistic managementAllan Savory
Cimarron Farm, Vermont130 acres
Regular grazing Rotational grazing
Land in 1986
Same land in 1989after being grazed by 600 cow-calf pairs
Western wheatgrass recovering
Twin Creek Ranch, Wyomingunder Holistic Management
1 year grazed 3 years not grazed 30 feet apart
Don Schaules, Montana
Carbon Ranching
Yields increase, erosion ceases, and the land stores up to five times more carbon.
Regular grazing
Rotational grazing
In a Maryland test, soil carbon increasedfrom 4.1 - 8.3% over 5 years
storing an additional 1.8 tonnes hectare/year
If all the world’s grasslands ranchers practiced carbon farming,
they could sequester 3.4 Gt of carbon a year
World total carbon emissions = 10 Gt a year
Methane reduction in grazing animals
Cystein food supplement + nitrates 100%
Feed additive based on fumaric acid 70%
Garlic Garlic 50%
Early season grazing 29–45%
Grinding/pelleting low quality forages 20–40%
4% canola oil mix 33%
Enzyme inhibitors 30%
Alfalfa grass, instead of grass only 25%
Rotational grazing, high quality forages 22%
Organic sugars and special bacteria 20%
Vaccination 20%
Legume lotus/tannins 16%
Methane Reduction in Grazing Animals
CaerFai Farm, Pembrokeshire, Wales
170 acres organic - dairy - beef - cereals - potatoes - cheese - pigs camping - holiday cottages - farm shop
• Anaerobic digester• Wind turbine• Solar hot water• Groundsource heat• Electric irrigation instead of tractor driven• Slurry pumped from the digester to nearby fields, instead of tractor spread
• Saves £4,000 a year electricity, + $4,500 diesel
BUT.. still only reduced use of diesel by 25%
Farm gas from anaerobic digestion produces biogasfor the Aga cooker, and 50% energy for sterilizing the
milking machine. Cheese whey included.
2O kW wind turbine. Performing at 17.5 kW
Solar hot water for use in the dairy
Guy Dauncey
www.earthfuture.com