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Green loan schemes can reduce agriculture's energy consumption
- 05 Oct, 2022
- News and Press Coverage , Blog
Agriculture can save significantly on energy by modernizing its installations, and according to Rune Qvist Nielsen, director of RN Solutions and former farmer, current loan schemes can benefit us all.
If you have a 22 Watt LED tube and dim it to 11 Watt, you only use half the amount of power. If you have 1,000 of these types of light sources, which is quite normal in Danish agriculture, then it is a lot of energy that can be saved by modernizing your installations.
The company RN Solutions is busier than ever installing energy-saving LED solutions and dimmers around the Danish farms, but it is primarily the parts of the industry that are financially strong at the start of winter , that the appetite for investment is strong. If all parts of the animal farms are to help save on the scarce energy, then director of RN Solutions Rune Qvist Nielsen believes that the politicians must turbocharge green loan schemes before the winter makes the electricity meter run really fast. -
People are panicking. We have never been as busy as we are now. Our customers, who primarily consist of electrical installers, are completely booked up with setting up solar panels, heat pumps and lighting, and our focus has shifted from productivity improvement to energy optimization, explains Rune Qvist, director of RN Solutions.
Due to rising energy prices, it has never been busier than right now, says Rune Qvist Nielsen, director of RN Solutions
Light a necessity With the current energy prices, the replacement of e.g. light sources can often be paid for in a few months, but the investment will not materialize if there is little money in the coffers on the farm, and therefore Rune Qvist Nielsen is now calling for easier access to energy-saving loans that will help to significantly reduce electricity consumption in agriculture, because light, heat and ventilation in the stables are a necessity if production is to be kept up to speed.
-It will really make a difference, because you can't do anything about the price of electricity, but the consumption in the animal farm can be significantly reduced, at the same time as you get electricity from solar cells or wind. All the smart new solutions are not ready yet - there is no quick fix - but we can reduce consumption, and that is the only thing that can make a big difference here and now, Rune Qvist Nielsen estimates.
Agriculture does not pay much in electricity tax, and gets money back, so according to Rune Qvist Nielsen, the tax screw will not have a big effect on agriculture, but according to the director, you can from the political side with new green, current-carrying loan schemes could give further impetus to the transition to energy-optimizing measures with great effect.
-If you switch to dimmable LED, you can save 60 percent immediately - and then you can switch on intelligent control, which further halves the power consumption, and it is a quick-fix that often can be delivered within a month, says Rune Qvist Nielsen.
The animals cannot live without light, and if productivity goes down, it goes beyond the bottom line, but not all LED solutions will be able to deliver a reduction in power consumption of 70-80 percent, therefore, RN Solutions recommends installing dimmable light sources, so that the savings on expensive electricity can be optimised.
-You can multiply the price of a year ago by five or six and we don't know where it will end up. Now we are talking 3-4 kroner, but maybe it will be 8 or 12 kroner over the winter - and will the price fall back to an earlier level? We don't know, says Rune Qvist Nielsen.
