Reproduction
Mastitis
Forage
Calf & Heifer
Minerals
3 steps to save energy and money
- HSUS ads deceive 90% of donors
- Texas dairyman puts animal health first
- Wheat posts biggest gain in 6 weeks on Wednesday
- CME to pare back plan for expanded grain trading
- Milk Mustache campaign gets Spanish makeover
- D.C. Watch: Work continues on farm bill
- Cattle futures climb at midday on improved demand
- Vilsack highlights importance of ag education and research
- Milk production continues robust expansion while prices soften
- Block cheese unchanged at $1.50 on CME
- Death of 3-year-old serves as reminder for better farm safety
- $1 to watch a video of farm animal abuse
- Calif. TV station investigates 'what’s in your milk'
- Co-ops start reacting to milk surplus
- Top 100 ag banks of 2011 posted
- Say 'yes' to Domino’s Pizza by paying it forward
- The latest on heat-treating colostrum
- Abused lawyers in parody of HSUS ad
- Don’t overlook zoonotic diseases
- Take her higher
- What you need to know about the latest case of BSE
- Mother warns against feeding raw milk to children
- Poll: Do you agree that dairy farming is the second worst job in America?
- Commentary: Obama’s going to tackle immigration? Yeah, right
- Domino’s Pizza says “no” to HSUS
- Commentary: Stand up for Dairy Security Act
- Stand up for Dairy Security Act
- Raw milk problems give dairy farmers a 'bad name,' says one
- Dairy group endorses Wisconsin governor in recall election
- New study blames dairy farms for much of LA’s smog
The SaveEnergy tool is now available to help dairy farmers save energy and improve their bottom line.
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy launched the SaveEnergy online resource this week at World Dairy Expo. The SaveEnergy resource connects dairy producers with financial assistance programs and educational materials to reduce on-farm energy use and related cost. The tool at USDairy.com/Save Energy is part of the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment, an effort established by dairy producers to reduce environmental impact and create business value across the supply chain.
“Farmers are the original conservationists. Historically, we have raised the bar by reducing, reusing and recycling, using new technology and improving management practices on our dairies,” says Steve Graybeal, dairy producer from Lancaster County, Penn., and member of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy’s Sustainability Council. “Still, many dairy producers aren’t aware of how easy or affordable it could be to adopt energy efficient best practices. We want to change that with tools like SaveEnergy.”
Through an agreement with the Innovation Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) supported the development of the SaveEnergy tool to accelerate energy conservation and build awareness of the importance of on-farm energy audits, also known as Agricultural Energy Management Plans (AgEMPs). SaveEnergy is part of the Farm Energy Efficiency project, one of 10 projects of the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment.
Dairy producers can achieve greater energy efficiency by taking an important first step — conducting an energy audit on their farming operation. An on-farm energy audit inventories a dairy’s current systems and equipment, identifies the cost of energy used and provides a detailed recommendation about actions, upgrades and potential savings that could most benefit the farm. It typically takes less than four hours of the producer’s time and can identify opportunities to reduce energy use by 10 percent to 35 percent.
The SaveEnergy tool follows an easy three-step process:
1. Learn how to cut costs of on-farm energy use.
2. Decide if an energy audit is right for the dairy operation.
3. Find financial assistance for on-farm energy audits and equipment updates.
“We are delighted to team up with the dairy industry to provide the SaveEnergy Web tool to farmers,” says NRCS Chief Dave White. “NRCS is committed to helping farmers remain economically viable by increasing their access to conservation measures that conserve natural resources and result in minimal impacts to the environment.”
Dairy producers can use the SaveEnergy Finder to identify financial assistance for on-farm energy audits and the implementation of audit recommendations. The Finder tool uses an interactive map that instantly connects users to state and local financial assistance programs for energy audits, incentives or rebates for equipment retrofits and a customized listing of local equipment suppliers and installers.
“Quite simply, our goal is to connect more dairy producers to energy savings,” says Erin Fitzgerald, senior vice president of sustainability for the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. “Financial assistance, programs and application requirements vary from state to state and can come from multiple sources including utility companies. By aggregating all of the different offerings in one place, we hope to reduce time, frustration and confusion for producers who want to evaluate all options.”
White said NRCS will use its Environmental Quality Incentives Program to provide technical and financial assistance for the on-farm energy audits and energy efficiency equipment upgrades this fall. While funding levels may differ from state to state, eligibility criteria will remain the same nationwide, making the SaveEnergy Finder resource especially timely for dairy producers.
To access the SaveEnergy tool, go to: USDairy.com/SaveEnergy.
Comments (2)
Leave a commentDieter Harle``
Report AbuseThe headline of this story indicated shared info from the WDE about digesters. This story above does not mention anything about that other than an energy audit.. A long cry for do's and dont's about dairy digesters....
Megan Pierce
Report AbuseOur sincere apologies, it looks like the link redirected to a different story on saving energy. Here is the link for the Do's and Don’ts on digesters. Cheers! Megan
mpierce@vancepublishing.com
http://www.dairyherd.com/dairy-news/events/World-Dairy-Expo-News/Dos-and-donts-of-dairy-digesters-131325089.html