Be energy efficient to profit
By Shirley Macmillan
WITH THE Kyoto Protocol now in force and a 20% reduction in UK greenhouse gas emissions planned for 2010, livestock producers should consider an energy audit to identify possible savings.
Good energy efficiency is good profit – it doesn”t just affect the environment, says Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF) commercial manager Jeremy Boxall.
He believes more policies will be made after the introduction of the Kyoto Protocol which will affect livestock producers more than climate change itself. “Government is good at targeted taxation or policies which involve getting businesses to change,” he warns.
“Longer term, unless climate change is disproved, the agricultural industry has the opportunity to help the environment, but also be energy efficient. More efficient fuel use will save money and have a big impact on carbon dioxide emissions.”
LEAF members are asked to conduct an energy audit, monitoring energy use in consumption per unit of output and where it is used. “Dairy farms are the biggest users of electricity because of cooling milk, but they also tend to have the oldest tractors, so they have more potential for savings,” says Mr Boxall.
The audit also calculates carbon dioxide emissions showing, for instance, that every litre of red diesel used produces 0.9kg of carbon dioxide compared with white diesel, which emits just 0.2kg. Aiming for a business to be carbon neutral usually involves tree planting which fits in with environmental requirements under SFP, says Mr Boxall. But producers can also benefit by ensuring older machinery is regulary serviced to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.
“Minimising unnecessary cultivations also helps. Buy the correct equipment and keep it maintained and design new buildings with energy efficient features,” he adds.
Pig producers who have signed up to the Climate Change Levy (CCL) agreement – where they receive a discount on the levy applied to all electricity use in return for changes – have made savings, says the National Pig Association”s CCL advisory group chairman Hugh Crabtree.
“Reducing energy use has saved some producers an estimated 1.5-2p/kg of product. They have also achieved DEFRA”s 10-year environmental target of cutting energy use by 16% in four years,” he says.
Measures such as better building insulation, using energy efficient light bulbs or simply switching lights off, together with regulating heating have all contributed to the bottom line.
The only problem is that having already met targets, a new goal of 24% at the end of the 10 years has been set. This, plus the bureaucracy, has led to low energy users – 150 in total – dropping out of the scheme. “They would rather pay the CCL tax than deal with the cost of the scheme and form filling,” says Mr Crabtree.