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We must act now |
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Climate change will affect the Midwest. We need to head off the worst effects. |
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Tips for Farms and Businesses |
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Want to reduce your overhead? If you make your business more energy efficient you will save on monthly expenses, as well as qualify for tax credits and rebates.
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All commercial operations can benefit from energy efficiency:
All Businesses
- Install motion-sensor lighting. If there are no employees in that room (such as a bathroom), the light will turn off. This can save up to 40% on lighting costs for those spaces.
- Seal off unused areas of warehouses or storage rooms. Carefully seal and weather strip your break room to keep AC or heat from leaking into the warehouse.
- Invest in LED lighted exit signs. They use 80-95% less energy and last 10-20 times longer.
- Turn off office equipment during nights and weekends. Set computers and other equipment to go into sleep mode when not in use.
- When purchasing new office equipment, check out the EnergyStar Office Equipment webpage. EnergyStar qualified computers use 70% less electricity.
- Unplug power tools and battery chargers. Nickel-cadmium batteries only lose about 15-20% of their charge per month, and don’t need to be plugged into rechargers all the time (which draw a phantom load). Lithium-ion batteries only lose 2-5% per month.
- Check out the available federal tax credits for energy-efficient businesses.
- Develop reports that track your monthly energy costs.
- Check with your utility, small business office, state energy office, etc. to see what grants, rebates, incentives, and other services are available for energy efficiency.
The DSIRE database can help you identify programs for your state. Check out those of neighboring states, too – does your state measure up? If not, discuss this with your legislator.
- Many utilities also offer energy audits, training courses in energy efficiency, and the option of demand pricing – where your business pays less for using energy during non-peak load times of day.
- Install energy from renewable sources, such as small wind turbines or solar panels.
- Reconsider business travel. Do your employees really need to fly or drive that much? Would a teleconference or webinar work just as well? If they do need to drive, look into fuel-efficient vehicles.
- Educate your employees on energy efficiency - print out CEP’s Take Steps section, highlight the tips you especially like, and post them in a break room.
Small Businesses
Farms and Ranches
- Switch to CFL lightbulbs.
- For outdoor lights, put them on motion sensors – those who drive through farm country after midnight know that many outdoor lights stay on all night long.
- Many motion sensor outdoor lights can be powered with small solar panels.
- Solar PV panels have many applications on the farm – such as running pumps.
- Do you have a good site to install a small wind turbine for your own use? It could lower your electric bills by 50-90%.
- Check out alternative fuels – especially the possibility of using biodiesel in farm equipment and trucks. Fueling stations grow in number everyday.
- Farmers and ranchers are in a unique position – not only can they use energy more efficiently, but they can also generate energy from their operations to sell to others. Landowners can receive $2,000 to $5,000 per wind turbine per year.
- Check out AgStar, a joint program between USDA, DOE, and the EPA, to help farmers learn how to reduce and capture methane emissions – also known as Methane to Markets.
- Learn more about the role of agriculture in producing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. You can adopt different farming practices to help cut down this problem (.pdf).
- Also learn how farming practices can assist in carbon sequestration – removing carbon from the atmosphere. These activities could soon qualify for carbon credits and trading, meaning that you could be paid for the carbon capturing services that your farming operation provides.
Large Organizations
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Resources and Sources:
- DOE/EERE, Windpowering America, Wind Energy and the Agricultural Community
http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/ag_sector.asp
- DOE/ EERE, Windpowering America, Small Wind for Homeowners, Ranchers, and Small Business http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/small_wind.asp
- DOE, EERE, Solar Applications for Farms and Ranches
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_workplace/farms_ranches/index.cfm/mytopic=30006
- EnergyStar
http://www.energystar.gov/
- Harvest Clean Energy – Clean Energy Resources for Farmers and Ranchers
http://www.harvestcleanenergy.org/
- Kansas State University Engineering Extension, Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy, http://www.engext.ksu.edu/home.asp
- American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings
http://www.aceee.org/Consumer/index.htm
- DOE, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), A Consumer’s Guide
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/
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