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Growers have been singing the blues the last few years because of escalating energy costs. Natural gas, petroleum and electricity prices put a strain on almost all commercial ventures. But there are a number of ways growers can reduce their energy bills. Some take capital while others take effort.
An overwhelming prospect
The energy bills come in and you pay them. There’s not a lot of time to pore over each line, each tax and each fee. Trying to gauge where each dollar is going is a daunting task. An energy audit can sort it out for you and may reduce your costs by 30 percent, said Jeff Sherman, senior account manager at APPI Energy in Salisbury, Md.
Many utility invoices contain errors, he said.
“Some errors include incorrect tariff classes or rate structures, overcharges on contracted rates, bill-processing fees improperly assessed and cancelled or unnecessary services still being billed,” he said.
Growers in Texas, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Delaware and Maryland may take advantage of deregulation. Changing providers could reduce bills from 5 percent to 60 percent, he said.
APPI conducted an audit for Zelenka Nursery in Grand Haven, Mich., in 2005 and saved the grower about $36,000. Savings came from gas and electric bills, waste removal and freight, but the largest savings came from the phone bill, said Steve Brookhouse, a senior manager at Zelenka.
Power in numbers
Maumee Valley Growers in
Unlike a coop, this group’s buys are voluntary, said Joe Perlaky, program manger for Maumee Valley Growers.
The group had 19 commitments for natural gas purchases as of early November, and Perlaky expected that number to go up to 30.
“We estimate a $60,000 savings in natural gas prices for the 19 growers combined. We’ll closely track this savings,” Perlaky said. “If the commitments grow to 30, that savings could be worth $100,000.”
More fuel choices
Alternative fuels get a lot of attention, not only because of high energy prices, but because of depleted resources.
Natural gas futures were trading at an all-time high in mid-December 2005 at $15.78 per MMBtu, which is higher than two years ago, APPI’s Sherman said. Electricity prices also hit an all-time high during the same time at $120.67 per Mwh in some markets -- 105 percent higher than two years ago.
Alternative fuels are the answer for some growers.
Dan Woldhuis, owner of Woldhuis Farms Sunrise Greenhouse in Grant Park, Ill., conducted a thorough investigation on corn burners when natural gas bills were shaving off profits.
“By my figures, if natural gas is above 50 cents a therm and corn is no more than $2.50 a bushel, it’s probably worth it to use the corn,” he said.
The stoves are portable units, and go from the propagation house to the finished greenhouse. They’re used in conjunction with a natural gas backup system.
The downside to corn burners is the labor involved, Woldhuis said.
“There’s labor with filling the burners, lighting them and cleaning them. All of that needs to be considered before investing in one of these,” he said.
Coal makes the grade
Tom Machamer, president of Cedar Lane Farms in Wooster, Ohio, heats 80,000 square feet of greenhouses with a coal burner. It’s a decades-old process, but Machamer found a way to modernize it and make it clean, efficient and financially sound.
“For every dollar we spend on coal, we saved $4 if we had to buy natural gas,” Machamer said. “And that includes labor.”
There is more labor involved with a coal-burning system such as monitoring, cleaning and maintenance, he said.
Cedar Lane Farms has a backup natural gas system and uses natural gas in 2 1/2 acres of greenhouses that are used in March, April and May.
Growers in hot water
Liskey Farms in
“It’s a spotty resource, but it’s a wonderful resource,” said Vickie Liskey, co-owner of the farm. Geothermal reserves are scattered across the country, but the hottest reserves are located in the western half of the
The Liskeys grow bedding plants and perennials for their own retail operation, raise cattle and rear tropical fish.
“We built the greenhouses to take advantage of the heat source,” she said. “It heats about 1 1/2 acres of greenhouse space.”
About 3/4 of an acre is gutter connected with under-bench heat.
Tropical fish ponds are heated year-round with geothermal heat.
The farm uses 30-horsepower pumps on a float system that pumps about 400 gallons of water per minute. The water temperature is 195°F out of the well and drops to about 185°F when it reaches the greenhouse.
Some houses are heated with fin tube, while others are heated with a truck radiator and a fan.
“We spend about $13,000 per year on electricity for everything, including pumping the water. Some growers spend that per month to heat the greenhouse,” she said.
Burning biomass
Walters Gardens in Zeeland, Mich., received an $87,750 grant to purchase pollution-control equipment to use with its biomass burner. The equipment purchased with the grant will help burn corn and wood pellets more efficiently.
“The biomass burner may become even more critical in future years if prices of natural gas rise dramatically,” said CEO John Walters.
The biomass burner was installed in 2004.
The grant was provided by the Agricultural Innovation Fund from the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA). Eligible applicants include individuals, farmer-owned cooperatives, partnerships, limited liability companies, private or public corporations, and local units of government. MDA will accept proposals intended to establish, retain, expand, attract and/or develop value-added agricultural processing and related agricultural production operations in Michigan.
Sunnyslope Gardens in New Berlin, Wis., burns wood pellets in conjunction with natural gas to heat about 6,000 square feet of greenhouse space. The burners run constantly, until it’s time to clean them, to maintain a mean greenhouse temperature of 55°F.
“So I’m just using the natural gas to top off the temperature to about 62°F,” said owner Steve Schutz. “Before burning wood pellets, my natural gas bill for the year was close to $17,000. Now it’s about $4,300.”
Some basic steps
While it’s progressive to think about new equipment and alternative fuels, don’t forget some of the basic steps to conserving energy in the greenhouse. Here are some important steps from John Bartok, professor emeritus at
Weatherstrip doors, vents and fan openings. Lubricate louvers so they close tightly.
Add a single or double layer of plastic over older greenhouses to reduce air infiltration and heat loss by 50 percent. A thermal blanket may provide up to 50 percent savings with payback in one to two years.
Insulate the foundation, the sidewall to bench height and behind sidewall heat pipes.
Use shading to reduce the need for mechanical cooling. Keep doors closed when fans are operating.
Cooling creates costs
Heating the greenhouse may be the source of many growers’ woes because of high natural gas or oil prices, but cooling the greenhouse can also raise the energy bill.
Natural ventilation requires less energy than fans, but growers give up some control, said Nadia Sabeh, doctoral candidate at
But a lot of energy can be saved with basic maintenance of your fan-and-pad or high-pressure fog system, she said.
A variable-speed fan will save energy and may offer more precise cooling, she said.
There’s a lot of cycling on and off with single-speed fans, which also causes more wear and tear on the fans.
“Sensors and computer controls are compatible with variable-speed fans,” she said.
Variable displacement pumps also are available for high-pressure fog systems, but the pump can decrease the pressure, which increases droplet size, she said.
For more: APPI Energy, (800) 520-6685; www.appienergy.com. Zelenka Nursery, (616) 842-1367; www.zelenkanursery.com. Maumee Valley Growers, Joe Perlaky, 419-356-4847; perlaky@bex.net; www.maumeevalleygrowers.com. Nadia Sabeh,
Don’t forget the plants: Crop choices help save energy
Saving energy is not totally wrapped up in the greenhouse systems. Choosing the right crop can save you money on heating bills, said Ryan Warner, assistant professor of horticulture at Michigan State University.
Some lower-temperature crops -- those that grow well in a 60°F to 68°F greenhouse -- include ageratum, brachyscome, calibrachoa, cyclamen, dianthus, heuchera, marigold, osteospermum, phlox and snapdragon, Warner said.
For more: Ryan Warner,
A look outside the industry: Plug-and-play device saves energy consumption
Entities that use copious cola machines, such as school districts or sports arenas, can save energy with the use of a plug-and-play device from USA Technologies in
VendingMiser uses a passive infrared sensor to power down the machine when the surrounding area is vacant; monitor the room’s temperature; and repower the cooling system at one- to three-hour intervals.
Energy consumption is reduced an average of 46 percent -- typically $150 per machine annually.
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The company also offers PlugMiser, which turns off idle equipment. It saves energy on all types of plug loads, such as computer monitors, task lights, radios and copiers.
For more:
- Kelli Rodda
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Growers must raise prices to survive
Wen-fei Uva,
Faced with higher and more volatile energy prices, conservation alone is not enough to maintain profitability and sustain business growth.
To survive rising energy costs, improving energy management efficiency is important, but it is just as critical to better market your business value and your products, communicate with your customers, know your costs and raise your prices to maintain profitability.
Increased energy prices do not just affect heating and electricity costs. They also affect other input costs such as greenhouse plastics, fertilizer and pots. And often growers have to pay higher delivery surcharges for purchases because of higher gasoline prices.
If energy-related costs total 10 percent of sales, an energy price increase of 20 percent to 50 percent would decrease profit margins by 2 percent to 5 percent.
Many greenhouse growers [in
Wen-fei Uva is senior extension associate in applied economics and management, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management, 307 Warren Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853; (607) 255-3688; wl32@cornell.edu.
Energy costs and sales percentages are critically linked
Bill Swanekamp, Kube-Pak Corp.
Energy costs and sales percentages are critically linked
Do you have a firm grip on your energy costs as a percentage of gross sales? You should. This will reveal any long-term trends toward inefficiencies.
At Kube-Pak Corp. we have seen our energy costs average 3.6 percent of our gross sales. Keep in mind, we produce plugs and rooted cuttings during the dead of winter, and this tends to increase our percentage substantially. This percentage is going up.
Growers can manage energy costs by investing in new burner equipment, if they’re generating heat from a boiler.
Older boilers use linkage control for maintaining the air/fuel mixture. This is important, since a poorly tuned boiler will use far more energy than one that is properly tuned. One limitation of linkage control is that it is very difficult to keep the settings accurate.
Servo motor control is very precise and seldom gets out of calibration. The biggest advantage of servo control is when it’s coupled with a computer to control all the capabilities of a burner.
Choose boilers capable of a 5-to-1 turn-down ratio. This means if you have a boiler that produces 1 MBtu at maximum fire, then it can reduce its firing rate to burn 200,000 Btu -- one-fifth of the maximum.
Your goal should be to have your boiler start heating at 5 p.m. and continue to run until sunrise the next day. If a boiler cycles on and off all night long, wasted heat is going up the stack during its off period.
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Also try dual-fuel burners with one boiler using alternative fuels to keep from paying a demand charge to the local utility.
Bill Swanekamp is co-owner, Kube-Pak Corp., (609) 259-3114; www.kubepak.com.
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