The Scottish Agricultural College has launched energy auditing services that aim to help farmers and growers lower their energy bills, reduce their carbon footprint and identify opportunities for the generation of renewable energy on their farms.
SAC engineers Rod McGovern and Jim Campbell, with support from SAC farm business consultants, are now offering energy auditing services to farmers throughout Scotland. The new service has the backing of two new software programmes developed by SAC.
Speaking at the launch in Edinburgh yesterday, Dr Stewart Gemmell, director of SAC Consultancy Services, said: "With climate change so high on the political agenda, we are likely to see more regulations on energy use. Being prepared for these changes now will not only save energy and money right away but, in the longer term farmers will be better able to cope with any future legislation.
"Energy is not a fixed overhead and often quite simple measures can reduce energy consumption and make businesses more competitive.
"The production of renewable energy is an integral part of the government's long-term aim of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050. It has also set a target of 10% of electricity supply from renewable energy by 2010.
The farming industry is well placed to reduce its own carbon footprint by taking up opportunities for on-farm production."
One service, backed by SAC software SAVEfuel, quantifies farm energy use and compares that with benchmarks and targets. Potential savings are identified and ranked by cost/benefit with an outline plan for implementation and areas for further investigation are highlighted.
Another service assesses the potential for on-farm production of renewable energy, looking at options for producing energy from sources such as wind, hydro, and solar energy storage, energy crops and animal wastes.
The SAC software package Refuel enables technical feasibility studies to be carried out and also provides economic assessments of opportunities for renewable energy production.
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