Energy Efficiency

Improving energy efficiency is one of the
first actions that you can take to tackle climate change and it is also one of the most cost effective. Ensuring that you are using energy as efficiently as possible on your farm is an important first step before considering generation of your own energy through investment in renewables technologies.

You can identify ways to improve your energy efficiency through doing an audit of your farm. This you can I either do through a self-assessment using the CLA CALM calculator or you can pay for an auditor to survey your business and provide you with a report. Please contact the Farm Energy Centre for more information.

The Carbon Trust is offering farmers interest-free loans (from £3-20,000) to upgrade or improve the efficiency of farming equipment (e.g. for grain drying and humidity control systems). Call 01865 885846 or visit www.carbontrust.co.uk/loans to find out if your project qualifies.

For more information:

• Click here to read the Energy Efficiency fact sheet
• Click here to read the advice for different agricultural sectors from the Carbon Trust

There are also technologies that can help improve the efficiency of your energy use. Ground source heat pumps use a buried pipe which transfers stored heat from the ground into a building to provide heating.

As well as ground source heat pumps, air source and water source heat pumps are also available.

Further information:

• See the Ground Source Heat Pump Association (GSHPA)’s introduction to the technology here.
• The Energy Savings Trust has further information about the technology including some savings comparisons with other heating systems