Check here for cow power

Picture this: You get your next electricity bill and to your surprise it looks a little different. That’s because just below where the total you owe is — there is a new little check box. Next to the box it says “Cow Power.”

This same scenario happened to the 159,000 customers of Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS.) With the addition of a handful of on-farm methane digesters in the state of Vermont, the power utility CVPS instrumented a new Cow Power program. David Dunn, who works with the program at CVPS, discussed the program during The Dairy Practices Council’s 40th annual meeting held recently in Albany, N.Y.

Customers who check the box offer to pay 16 cents per kilowatt-hour on their electricity bill to support the project. That hefty price tag for energy doesn’t go to the CEO of the power company either. Most of the savings go directly to the farms that produce the energy. This way, farms receive a price that provides a better economic incentive to continue to produce energy from manure. In all, 3,800 of 159,000 customers have opted to pay the higher price. That’s only a humble 2.3 percent of their total customers. However, that small percentage has meant the program can pay farms a decent price, in addition to funding about a half-dozen more digesters that are in the works and set to start producing power in the next year. One customer, Green Mountain College, checked into the Cow Power program and has generated nearly $48,000 for the program. The college’s participation has even garnered a plethora of media attention because of this new commitment to “green” renewable energy.

To find out more about CVPS’s unique Cow Power program, you can visit its website here.

Sunny means money at California dairy

“Golden sunshine” is a phrase that has more meaning than ever these days at Scott Brothers Dairy in San Jacinto, Calif.

That’s because about 30 percent of the electricity used at the 1,000-cow dairy is produced by photovoltaic solar panels mounted on its commodity barn roof. Founded in 1913, the family operation run by Stan Scott and his sons, Bruce and Brad (pictured here), is one of just a handful of dairies in the state that are generating zero-emission renewable power from the sun.

Installed last November, phase one of the Scotts’ solar setup consists of 312 photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight into electricity throughout the day which is put back into the utility grid operated by their local electric company. Second and perhaps third phases of the system may eventually be added to roofs that span the calf area and the maternity/hospital area.

Although expensive at roughly $400,000 up front, Bruce estimates that electric bill savings, state renewable energy rebates, federal tax credits, and tremendously accelerated depreciation rates make payback period for the current system less than five years.

“On top of that, the public relations benefit for this is fantastic,” he says. “We process our own milk and make several dairy products, and our customers ask us all the time for “image-conscious” products that are environmentally friendly. They get very excited when we tell them our dairy is solar-powered.

“Being proactive is the only way dairying and agriculture are going to keep any kind of positive image with consumers; we can’t hide from sight,” he adds. “Solar is something that can work for many dairies; plus it requires practically no maintenance.”

Wind power could blow your energy bills away

I think we all can agree controlling the increases in our energy bill is appealing. That was the idea behind one session at the 2009 Midwest Value-Added Agriculture Conference held in Rochester, Minn., in late January. Howard McElroy of Winkleman’s Environmentally Responsible Construction in Brainerd, Minn., outlined options for implementing a small-scale wind turbine on farms. Farms can generate electricity for their own use and sell the excess to their local power utility depending on the turbine's size. Wind turbines won’t control odor or the gas everyone’s been talking about like a methane digester will. But, wind turbines are a lot more cost appealing for a small farmer looking at adding a renewable source of energy to his or her farm. Grants and tax credits are available, too. The typical payback period for a farm’s small wind turbine is between 6 to 12 years, considering tax incentives. “We’ve always tried to be kind to the environment,” said Clare Palmquist of Marshik Dairy in Pierz, Minn., and a one-year owner of a wind turbine. Clare along with her husband Dean Marshik operate the dairy and milk 80 cows. Besides feeling good about using a renewable source of energy, the farm is pleased with what it has done to its energy bill. “It has cut down our energy bill by about a third or a fourth,” Clare said. “Dairy farms use a lot of energy; if we were just a residential home, we would be selling a lot of energy” she added.

To learn more about how energy is created from wind, view this video
To learn if there is wind energy potential in your area, click here