Shopping For Wind

Shopping For Wind. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Farms and wind energy have a rich history together - according to Small Wind Certification Council Technical Director Brent Summerville. He says farmers are comfortable investing in equipment that will pay for itself and they understand how to keep the technology running for many years. Since farms and ranches generally use a lot of energy - Summerville says farmers and ranchers should care about small-scale distributed wind energy because it offers a way to generate on-site power to offset some of that electricity usage.

SUMMERVILLE: Energy prices are volatile and a small wind turbine on the farm is a hedge against rising energy costs. Since the fuel that drives the wind turbines is free, investing in a wind turbine locks in the costs for the life of the turbine. Wind energy will be right for a farmer or rancher if they have a suitable wind resource and the space to install a wind turbine.

The Small Wind Certification Council has received start-up funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, several state agencies and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The Council’s mission is to help prevent unethical marketing and false claims - according to Summerville - ensuring consumer protection and wind industry credibility.

 SUMMERVILLE: SWCC helps the farmer choose a quality wind turbine by providing a list of turbines that we have certified to meet national standards. We also publish easy to understand consumer labels with ratings for power, energy and sound which enables comparison shopping.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.