Energy-saving measures: are they efficient?

An air scrubber can help to reduce emissions, an automatic feeder helps to optimize feed, extra premixers or storage facilities reduce costs and cooling installations ensure that there is less production loss due to too hot weather. These are all good ideas that can yield returns in themselves, but sometimes the efficiency of these measures has not been sufficiently critically examined.

It is striking that, despite more automation, livestock farms are still able to avoid increasing the amount of energy required per animal. However, this does not happen automatically. Manufacturers and the farmer will have to constantly have their feelers out in order to achieve lower energy consumption, because otherwise consumption will get out of control in no time.

Research into energy consumption at agricultural companies, conducted in a number of provinces, shows that they use energy from 60% to 180% of the standard. As a result, a number of companies consumed €1.000 per month more than the standard set on the basis of their company size.

Energy scan above 50.000 kWh per year
A licensing authority requires that an energy scan be drawn up for consumption above 50.000 kWh per year. The savings opportunities, with a payback period of less than 5 years, must also be realised. With automation it is thought that the farmer should have control over everything that happens on his farm. Think of inlet valves that must prevent the wind from having any influence, or mixing devices that run for too long to prevent segregation from taking place.

It is precisely by looking at automation from a different perspective that creative ideas are sometimes created that are more economical and achieve at least the same effect. A good example is a calf farmer, where the manure is cooled directly and where this heat is used to heat the calf milk (using a heat pump). The fresh manure falls on the cooled floor and is sheared several times a day into a deeper cellar. By incorporating this directly into the concrete floor during construction, the surface remains smooth. The barn's emissions have been reduced and energy consumption has fallen.

Energy upon request Mia/Vamil
If a stable needs to be made Mia/Vamil-worthy, a chapter on energy is also included. This forces the entrepreneur to think about the application of more energy-efficient options when building a new building. Sometimes this is experienced as an extra requirement. However, others see the opportunities that arise from this. Think of cooling, where the ventilation part can be made smaller. This is because the extremes are removed by the cooling. More and more livestock farmers are ultimately finding it cheaper by making this efficiency gain right away with the new construction.

DLV Advice

DLV Advies is an independent consultancy for entrepreneurs, companies and organizations in the agricultural sector. In addition to individual advice, DLV supervises study groups and is active in various Agri&Food projects.

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.