Energy Efficiency Rebates Allow New Dairy to Save Big When Redtop Jerseys, LLC, becomes operational later this year in Madera County, California, it will feature several new-generation, energy-efficient technologies, along with a sustainable design that allows for future improvements in energy efficiency. In planning for the new facility, fourth-generation dairymen Duane, Scott, and Michael Wickstrom, along with partners Delton, Lloyd, and Brad Nyman, contacted Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) early on, to see how efficient design features under consideration for their new dairy may be eligible for rebates or incentives under the utility’s energy efficiency programs. Given the huge scope of the new project, the dairy’s PG&E representative encouraged the partners to fill out the application for Savings By Design, PG&E’s new construction program. The program offers design analysis and project incentives for efficient new construction and expansions. Scott Wickstrom says that the application process was relatively easy and painless. The next step was a design energy analysis, which was performed under PG&E’s guidance by BASE Energy, Inc., in San Francisco. The design analysis report provided a detailed measure analysis for all equipment, including refrigeration, motors, lighting, and ventilation, comparing the energy and cost benefits of efficient design features versus standard design features. The dairymen were pleased to discover that by adopting many of the energy-efficient features recommended by PG&E, they would be eligible to receive program incentives of approximately $48,000 once the dairy is operational. According to Wickstrom, “We were very pleased once we heard the numbers.” A Dairy on the Drawing Board Michael Mitchell of EAL Engineering in Homedale, Idaho, worked closely with the Redtop partners to design the 21,033-square-foot milking facility. Sitting on approximately 1,200 acres near Chowchilla, the dairy includes two 72-rotary-stall milking parlors; a 6,240-square-foot milk house; two freestall milk barns at 125,464 square feet each; and a special-needs barn at 62,666 square feet. The dairy, which is permitted at 8500 total animal units, will be built in phases over time, with the first phase coming online with just under 2000 cows by the end of 2006. Based on their experience with their existing dairies in Hilmar, Wickstrom and his partners understand that controlling the amount of energy used is critical to the success of such a large, complex facility. He notes that energy costs have a real impact on the bottom line and market competitiveness of his business. In planning the new dairy, Wickstrom says, “We tried to incorporate as much new, energy-efficient technology as possible within our budget, while allowing for future technologies to be added down the road.” The ultimate goal, and a long-term strategy for the dairymen, is to produce all the energy that the dairy needs on site, possibly with enough left over to sell back to the grid. Energy Efficiency Wherever Possible The first phase of the dairy incorporates several energy-efficient technologies, and the partners are considering others for future phases of the project. Premium efficiency motors (PEMs) and high-volume low-speed (HVLS) fans will likely make it into later phases, but high efficiency lighting will shed light on the first phase. Much of the dairy will be lit by new T8-32 Watt high-frequency linear fluorescent lamps with electronic ballasts. On a lamp, the ballast provides the necessary starting voltage and regulates the current during operation. Compared to an older magnetic ballast, an electronic ballast uses semiconductor components to raise the frequency of lamp operation. In addition, the inductive components that control the current of the lamp are much smaller in an electronic ballast. Because the lamps operate at higher frequencies, the overall efficiency of the lighting system increases. High efficiency light-emitting diode (LED) exit signs will add to the savings in lighting. LEDs are solid-state devices that require little power and generate little heat. They are typically more reliable than light sources such as incandescent and neon lamps, and because the material that generates light does not deteriorate appreciably, LEDs have long operating lifetimes. In addition to these lighting technologies, today’s designers often incorporate daylighting—a strategy that makes optimal use of natural light—into new construction projects. Wickstrom says that the Redtop design makes use of daylighting “to the extent possible in an animal-housing facility.” Roll-up doors on the milking parlors, for example, let in the light, with an added benefit of increasing air movement to keep the cows more comfortable. Milk cows are thought to eat less when they’re hot, and when they absorb fewer nutrients, they may produce less milk. Says the dairyman, “Cow comfort is priority one!” Redtop’s first phase will also use variable-frequency drives (VFDs; sometimes called variable speed drives or VSDs) on its vacuum systems. Typical vacuum pumps are oversized and run constantly at high speed to accommodate unexpected airflow (such as when milking units fall off a cow’s udder). Energy is wasted because variations in airflow requirements are not taken into account. A VFD, which matches the pump’s speed and capacity to the actual required airflow, can save between 40% and 80% of pumping energy costs with the same or better vacuum regulation. The Redtop dairy uses two 25-horsepower vacuum pumps and two VFD 2-horsepower milking pumps. In terms of refrigeration, the dairy’s first phase will use refrigeration heat recovery (RHR) systems, which capture waste heat from the milk refrigeration system. These systems can reduce water heating costs by as much as 50%. The Redtop partners plan to install two 3-horsepower chilled water pumps for circulating water through the chillers and plate cooler. One chilled water pump is designated for each chiller. Challenges Met and Opportunities Ahead When asked about challenges in designing and building the new dairy, Wickstrom mentioned the permitting environment in California, which he says has changed significantly in the last couple of years. To get approval to build Redtop, for example, a new requirement had to be satisfied—preparation of a focused environmental impact report (EIR). Quad Knopf, a local engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting firm, conducted the environmental impact assessment and prepared the EIR, which was subsequently approved by the Madera County Board of Supervisors. The family’s two existing dairies are certified through the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program (CDQAP), and the partners plan to apply for certification for the Redtop dairy when it comes online. CDQAP, which has an “environmental stewardship” component, is a voluntary certification program administered by the dairy industry, the University of California, and state and federal regulatory agencies. All in all, though, Wickstrom says that he, his family, and his partners are excited about the whole project. “My family’s been in the dairy business for four generations, and the fifth generation is about to enter the business. So we’ve seen a lot of changes over the years. These technologies, which allow us to save energy now and possibly produce energy in the future, are among some of the most exciting developments to come along in a long time.” For More Information . . . PG&E: Visit http://www.pge.com/biz/rebates/ or call PG&E’s Business Customer Center at 800-468-4743. SCE: Visit http://www.sce.com/RebatesandSavings/LargeBusiness/

The Benefits of PV Few power-generation technologies have as little impact on the environment as PV; as it’s quietly working to make electricity, PV produces no air pollution or hazardous waste. It requires no fuels that must be transported or combusted. And because the energy source—sunlight—is free and abundant, PV systems can supply guaranteed access to electrical power. This, in turn, avoids the cost and uncertainties of maintaining energy supply from politically volatile regions such as the Middle East. Finally, in addition to reducing our trade deficit, a robust domestic PV industry creates new jobs and strengthens the U.S. economy. Let’s take a look at the many ways PV is bettering our world—today. Why PV Is Important in General It’s highly reliable and needs little maintenance. It costs little to build and operate. It has virtually no environmental impact. It’s produced domestically, strengthening our economy and reducing our trade deficit. Its inherent modularity allows for flexibility in terms of size and application. It meets the demand and capacity challenges facing energy service providers. It helps energy service providers manage uncertainty and mitigate risk. It serves both form and function in a building. Why PV Is Important To National Energy Security The nation’s existing energy production and distribution infrastructure faces a number of physical threats, ranging from its age and complexity to national disasters to acts of terrorism. Building and maintaining most elements of infrastructures that handle electricity, water, communications, and transportation is costly in terms of dollars and time. The natural deterioration of parts, sometimes-inadequate maintenance, the complexity of the systems, the interdependencies among systems, the reliance of one infrastructure on another—all these factors can lead to system disruptions. And systems designed for the expected loads and capacities of the 20th century ago are often inadequate for today's volumes, leading to failures such as power outages. Depending on where you live, natural disasters might include hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, blizzards, or earthquakes. These unpredictable catastrophes can damage many of the components of our energy infrastructures. Think of ice storms that snap power lines and earthquakes that cripple power plants. Human error can also be a culprit. Failure to monitor and maintain the proper pressure within a pipeline system used to transport oil, natural gas, or water, for example, can damage valves and gauges, requiring shutdowns that disrupt the optimal flow of the product. And as we’ve witnessed in tragic and dramatic fashion, it’s an unfortunate fact of life that disasters can be intentional, with threats that range from juvenile vandalism, to criminal sabotage by an individual, to well-planned terrorist attacks aimed at wreaking large-scale political, social, or economic havoc. So how can PV strengthen America’s energy security? By providing highly reliable, low-cost, clean power. By distributing energy throughout our systems in a more diversified way. By generating power that can be transported to, for example, a disaster site where the power off the grid is out. By playing a larger, more active role in the energy mix when PV systems are built into new buildings. By using the free energy of the sun to free us from dependence on unreliable foreign oil sources. The list goes on and on. Let’s take a brief look at each of PV’s benefits. Why PV Is Important To You It’s highly reliable and needs little maintenance. What’s the value of electricity when it’s unavailable? To put this question in perspective, think back to your home’s last power outage. Depending on what you were doing at the time, it was either a minor inconvenience or it brought your activities—such as cooking the Thanksgiving turkey, for example—to a standstill. Now consider the fact that amazon.com loses $1 million per minute when a power disruption interrupts its Internet site. We can see that power supply reliability is key, whether you’re feeding your family or fueling the U.S. economy. PV systems, originally developed for use in space—where repair is extremely expensive, if not impossible—are extremely reliable. PV still powers nearly every satellite that circles the Earth because it operates reliably for long periods of time with virtually no maintenance. And to dispel a commonly held “PV myth,” these systems can generate power in all types of weather. On partly cloudy days, they turn out as much as 80% of their potential energy. Even on extremely overcast days, they can still produce about 25% of their maximum output. In terms of maintenance, PV systems have no moving parts, so visual checks and battery servicing suffice to keep the systems up and running. Because manufacturers test solar panels for hail impact, high wind, and freeze-thaw cycles representing year-round weather conditions, weather damage is no bigger potential problem for PV systems than for other types of energy production systems. Learn more here. It costs little to build and operate. Isn’t PV expensive? Although great strides have been made in terms of cost in the last 20 years or so, yes, it’s true that electricity from PV is not yet cost competitive with electricity taken off an established grid. However, it really doesn’t have to be! Instead, PV supplies electricity when and where energy is most limited and most expensive, making a valuable strategic contribution to our energy mix. Energy from PV doesn’t simply replace some fraction of the generation; it displaces the right portion of the load. Once installed, PV systems can produce power continuously with little upkeep and minimal operating costs. Consider these facts. Because PV cells use the energy from sunlight to produce electricity, the “fuel” is free. PV systems are usually placed close to where the electricity is used, usually requiring much shorter power distribution lines than those needed for bringing power in from the utility grid. In addition, using PV eliminates the need for a transformer to “step down” the power from the utility line. Less wiring means lower costs, shorter construction time, and reduced permitting paperwork, particularly in urban areas. And low-maintenance, cost-effective PV systems are ideal for supplying power to remote communications stations, navigational buoys at sea, and homes more than a quarter mile from utility power lines. Learn more here. It has virtually no environmental impact. Would you be willing to pay a little more for your electricity if you knew it was environmentally “friendly”? According to a 1999 utility market research study (Farhar 1999, available at http://www.eren.doe.gov/), the answer for most of us is yes. When customers are aware that there are utility energy options, including PV, 70% are willing to pay at least $5 more per month and 38% are willing to pay at least $10 more per month—costs that are realistic for today’s PV systems. And these systems have almost no impact on the environment. Because they burn no fuel and have no moving parts, they are clean and silent, producing no atmospheric emissions or greenhouse gases to have detrimental effects on our planet. Compared to electricity generated from fossil fuels, each kilowatt of PV-produced electricity offsets up to 830 pounds of oxides of nitrogen, 1,500 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and 217,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, each year (Herig 2000)! These are serious numbers, and the potential of PV-generated energy to make such great strides in avoiding pollution will only continue to climb as the PV industry grows and expands. It’s produced domestically, strengthening our economy and reducing our trade deficit. Would knowing that your power doesn’t depend on foreign oil be important to you? It seems pretty clear that reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil is a worthy goal. Using PV protects us against the threats of fuel price volatility and political instability and allows us to produce our own energy within our own borders. By building the PV industry, we’re investing in “home grown” energy, which creates domestic jobs and strengthens our economy. Today, the PV industry generates about 3,000 jobs for every $100 million of module sales. If the industry continues to grow at the rate we’ve seen in the last few years—at an average of about 36%—it could employ about 150,000 Americans in high-value, high-tech jobs within 20 years (Solar Electricity: The Power of Choice 2001). And as we keep steadily increasing our PV exports to other countries, our current trade deficit moves steadily toward a trade surplus. In addition, PV is a free-market commodity, involving a mix of large and small businesses—with customer choice underpinning success and growth. As the costs of PV keep declining and the technology keeps improving, the industry has the potential to become one of the world’s largest. Its inherent modularity allows for flexibility in terms of size and application. What if you could size your energy-generating system down to the kilowatt? With PV, one size does not fit all. That’s one of its main advantages. A PV system can be constructed to any size based on the energy requirements at hand. Furthermore, a PV system can be enlarged or moved if the energy needs of its owner change. For instance, homeowners can add modules every few years as their energy usage and financial resources grow. And ranchers can use mobile trailer-mounted pumping systems for watering their cattle as they’re rotated among different fields. In urban applications, PV can eliminate the need for costly trenching and the digging up of streets. PV is an outstanding choice for many urban applications where there is no grid power or where taking power from the grid would be costly or cumbersome. Lighting, irrigation, median sprinklers, water pumping, school and hospital warning signs, communications, and emergency services are just a few of the many applications where PV is working successfully in our cities and towns. It meets the demand and capacity challenges facing energy service providers. Can PV help prevent brownouts and blackouts? The answer is a resounding yes. When demand for electricity is high, such as during a heat wave when everyone’s air conditioner is running, utilities must fire up their “peaking” power plants to meet the demand for just a few hours a day. These peaking plants are expensive to operate, and the utility’s electric distribution system must be sized to handle these high, albeit short-term, loads. When the utility installs grid-connected PV arrays, the PV-generated electricity is used directly to help supply a building’s peak demand, often termed “peak load shaving.” And frequently, as an agreeable coincidence, the need to meet peak loads arises when the sun is shining the brightest! Another critical benefit of PV systems is that they can produce power near the point of use—a concept we call “distributed generation.” Before the grid becomes overloaded, then, the PV systems step in to provide electricity to individual homes and buildings. It helps energy service providers manage uncertainty and mitigate risk. Why install PV at a power plant? Because it makes sound financial sense. As the energy industry moves from the monopoly, no-risk financial environment of the past toward more competition, financial risks to energy suppliers become a concern. The fuel-free, modular attributes of PV play a key role here. Because PV uses no fuel, there’s no uncertainty about rising and fluctuating fuel prices. In addition, clean renewable energy technologies like PV tend to have minimal costs associated with complying with legislation that protects the environment. PV’s modularity also figures in—power plants that are built as a series of modules tie up fewer capital resources for a shorter period of time when the plant is under construction. In a modular plant, operation can begin as each module is completed, producing revenue sooner than nonmodular plants. And a failure in a modular plant affects only a portion of the plant; a failure in a nonmodular plant, on the other hand, can shut down the entire plant. Finally, modular plants can be moved to areas of higher value or used in other applications if that becomes necessary. It serves both form and function in a building. But doesn’t PV look really ugly on the roof? Not anymore. State-of-the-art PV modules are now available in a variety of colors and styles, allowing designers to use them as aesthetic elements that are built right into roofs, skylights, and facades. Today’s modules can even be specified to transmit a percentage—usually 80% to 90%—of natural light. Mixed with nontransmissive modules, these systems create a pleasant natural-light environment inside the building, helping to ventilate and heat the building at the same time. When the systems are properly integrated into a building “envelope,” they not only provide power and light, but also contribute to the structure itself. This relatively new concept, called “building-integrated PV,” is taking hold. Think of it this way—a building has to have windows, right? So why not use windows that produce power? It makes financial sense, too, because the savings on conventional structural materials can often offset the cost of the PV materials. Note: Space constraints prevent listing the references mentioned in the text. Reference citations available on request.