Energy Use & Fuel Management
Improving energy and fuel use will not only help improve farm profitability but will reduce farm emissions and improve the carbon footprint.
Undertaking a fuel and energy audit of buildings and machinery can help to highlight areas where potential savings can be made. Simply regularly recording energy and fuel use can provide a startling realisation of where inefficiencies are occurring.
Download information about simple energy auditing and recording sheets from the Farming For a Better Climate webpage, where you can read Case Studies highlighting how other farmers have made savings of up to £6,000 through fuel use efficiencies alone.
Top tips
- Can you downsize? Do you need the biggest tractor on the farm to do the job you want? Fuel savings can be made by matching the correct tractor to the job.
- Check your energy contract for the day/night rate times, often different suppliers have different times for each tariff; don't forget to change timers when the clocks change.
- Keep machinery serviced regularly, with particular attention to fuel and air filters; keep air vents clean to ensure efficient fuel use.
- Fit timer switches to water heaters and day/night sensors to building lights.
- Tyre selection can make a big difference to not only fuel consumption, but also to compaction in your farm soils. Check tyre pressures regularly and make changes to suit tractor use.
- Dairy farms can utilise preheated water from the plate cooler for wash water; reducing heating time and energy.
Read how Climate Change Focus Farmer, David Barron, has invested in hydrogen technology to help reduce his fuel bill and cut his carbon footprint. Case Study: Improving fuel use; hydrolyser technology
More hints and tips are available from Farming For A Better Climate.
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