Energy and Fuel Use

Using less fossil fuel means lower energy bills and fewer emissions.

A farm energy audit can highlight areas where improvements in electricity and fuel usage can be made which can make substantial savings in the carbon audit and financially.

Start by monitoring energy and fuel use, either weekly or monthly. Download our energy monitoring spreadsheets or create your own. Once you’ve got several months data, take time to look back over it and see when or when the greatest usage was and why.

Use an energy audit to develop an action plan to include measures such as:

  • More effective use of thermostats, time clocks, motion sensors and insulationAn electricity meter.
  • Equipment renewal
  • Improved journey planning to reduce transport fuel consumption
  • Vehicle checks and maintenance
  • Training for staff
  • Assess on-farm storage facilities, for example, potato stores, to ensure that insulation and natural ventilation is utilised and energy is used efficiently
  • Look closely at any energy intensive activities such as grain drying and water abstraction, use meters to monitor energy and water use
  • Remember to monitor the effectiveness of the measures implemented to reduce energy use

For example:

David Barron at Nether Aden, achieved a fuel saving of 20% on the telehandler equating to around £600 off his fuel bill over a 15 month period through using hydrogen technology, and dairy famer Ross Paton, Torr Farm saved nearly £2,000 on the farm electricity bill and £6,600 on farm diesel through simple tweaks to current practices.

Beef and Sheep farmer David Houstoun, Glenkilrie saved around £450 just from reducing the daily running time of the feed mixer.

 

For comprehensive advice on woodfuel visit the Use Woodfuel website.

Optimising Tractor Fuel Use

This Practical Guide looks at how to reduce tractor fuel consumption.

Optimising Tractor Fuel Use

Electricity Use In The Dairy

This Practical Guide highlights how technology can improve energy use during milking and lead to improved farm efficiency.

Electricity Use In The Dairy

Introduction to Energy Auditing

This Practical Guide highlights how to assess and optimize farm energy and fuel use.

Introduction to Energy Auditing

Monitoring Energy Use

This practical guide looks at how you can record and monitor farm energy and fuel use.

Monitoring Energy Use

Electricity meter record

Use the Electricity meter record spreadsheet, available to download using the button below, to keep track of electricity use on the farm. This will give you a physical record and visual graph to show the average daily use over any given time period.

Spreadsheet – Electricity meter record

Vehicle fuel record

Use the Vehicle Fuel Record spreadsheet, available to download using the button below, to keep track of fuel use per vehicle on the farm. This will give you a physical record and visual graph to show the fuel use per hour.

Spreadsheet – Vehicle Fuel Record

Grain dryer record

Use the Grain dryer spreadsheet, available to download using the button below, to keep track of fuel use in the grain dryer. This will give you a physical record and visual graph to show the fuel use tonnes %

Spreadsheet – Grain dryer record

Further information and advice

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