10 Oct How to Make your Farm More Energy Efficient

The amount of energy used on a small-scale farm can be quite surprising – and the areas in which you could be wasting your essential energy might shock you. Keep in mind that your farm’s needs, and the resources that you use will be different to the needs of your neighbours, but there are often many ways in which you can upgrade your farm for the sake of energy efficiency.

Step One: Analyse your Farm

The most important step in improving energy efficiency within a farm is to understand where the current energy usage is coming from. This can’t really be done through guessing and intuition – you’re going to need to carefully evaluate every aspect of your property – and how you run your farm. During your analysis, you’ll probably find a number of “energy hogs” that are draining your resources and adding to your energy bills.

Step Two: Consider Easy Energy Conservation Measures

Once you’ve evaluated your farm thoroughly, you’ll be able to start planning changes that could reduce operating costs and energy use. Sometimes, the energy conversation measures that you take will be large – and may involve replacing numerous older pieces of equipment with newer models – for instance, you might need to switch out your heating solutions. On the other hand, you might be able to save a huge amount of energy and money by making a couple of simple changes, such as changing a temperature setting or replacing light bulbs.

Step Three: Upgrade Your Lighting

If your farm was designed more than a decade ago, the chances are that you have some new options available for lighting. Try changing incandescent bulbs with LED or fluorescent bulbs to begin reducing your energy usage by up to 70%. Once that’s done, you can consider other lighting changes, such as using solar controls and motion sensors to minimise unneeded energy usage. One good tip is to keep your lightbulbs clean and dusted too – as clouded bulbs generally produce less light than well-maintained ones.

Step Four: Tune Farm Engines

Finally, make sure that the engines around your farm are running exactly as they should be. Remember that engines are the most energy-efficient when they are running at their optimum level – and this often means cleaning injectors, filters, bearings, and bolts, regularly.
If you’re struggling to maintain the efficiency of various engines around your home yourself, then you could always try seeking the help of a professional who can do the job for you.