08/22/08 Taking Clean Energy To Heart

Taking Energy Conservation to Heart. I'm Greg Martin as Line On Agriculture presents the Harvest Clean Energy Report. A lot of us think energy conservation is not moving from the couch once the TV is on. You mean it's not? Well no&energy conservation can take many forms and many ag producers are finding that a little conservation and some ingenuity means more dollars in your pocket. Just as Jeff Falen of Persephone Farms. FALEN: The first things we started doing were pretty simple things like compact fluorescent light bulbs in pretty much every fixture on the farm. We've also done a lot of insulation not only in our house but we've done some insulation in our greenhouse too. Persephone Farms grows about 14 acres of organic vegetables in western Oregon. Falen says they take the conservation measures to their employees as well. FALEN: We ask all of our employees to drive when they're making deliveries to farmers markets or wholesalers to drive 55 or less because that's much more efficient speed at which to drive. We've tested it on some of our vehicles and found 55 mph versus 65 mph produces a 15% savings on fuel usage. That of course translates into 15% less carbon emissions and greenhouse gases. They recycle as much material as they can and Falen has even converted a small tractor from diesel to electric. The electricity used to recharge that tractor comes from the sun. FALEN: We have almost 11kw of solar power. In terms of physical space there are 64 solar panels and when they're producing more electricity than we need the excess goes back to the utility and basically spins the meter backwards and then at night when they're not producing any electricity then we're pulling electricity in from the utility. He also says that by becoming involved in conservation measures it has taught him the value of energy. FALEN: If are not doing something like this the impacts of electricity production are kind of out of sight and the economics and what it takes to produce it is a bill you get in the mail. But when you've got the system on your farm producing it, it makes us think a lot more about it. For additional information on clean energy, visit harvestcleanenergy.org. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network. www.harvestcleanenergy.org