John Upton

Energy in Agriculture, 20th August 2019

Reducing Energy Costs – Energy Efficient Lighting

for Dairy Farms

Irish Milk - production energy requirements

• Electricity consumed = 42 kWh/tonne milk produced

(Upton et al., 2013)

• 7.3 billion Litres of milk produced in 2017 (CSO 2018)

• Total electricity required in 2017 was ~ 312 GWh

• Projected that by 2020 Ireland will produce up to 8.8 billion

litres; this will require ~ 378 GWh of electricity

• Electricity related CO2 emissions may be 182,000 tonnes by

2020 unless mitigation strategies are implemented

Dairy Farm Energy Consumption

Cost of electricity = €5.00 per tonne of milk sold

Max = €9.00 Min = €2.50

Dairy farm infrastructure book

https://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2017/dairy-farm-infrastructure-handbook.php

Energy Efficient Lighting for Dairy farms

Key point:

Good lighting design can reduce energy use

Energy Efficient Lighting for Dairy farms

Requirements:

• Specific task lighting during:

Milking (500 lux)

General area lighting (200 lux)

Office (500 lux)

Bulk tank room (1,000 lux)

Provide outdoor lighting for safety/security (200 lux)

• Maintain low running and servicing costs

• Lighting systems should be

robust

• Not cause

interference with

auto I.D.

performance

Energy Efficient Lighting for Dairy farms

• Various light types

examined

T5T8 to T5 Converter

T5

LED

T8

Energy Efficient Lighting for Dairy farms

Energy Efficient Lighting for Dairy farms

Fluorescent fixture types:

• Two common types are electronic ballasts and magnetic

ballasts

• Magnetic ballasts in fluorescent lamps work at a frequency

of 50hz, electronic ballasts greatly increase that frequency to

50 khz

• Electronic ballasts are quieter and have less light flicker

• Power consumption

and light output were

monitored

Energy Efficient Lighting for Dairy farms

Energy efficiency by light type –

luminous efficiency

T8

T5

LED

Converter

Energy Efficient Lighting for Dairy farms

Energy Efficient Lighting for Dairy farms

• Fluorescents with magnetic ballasts should be used with

auto identification equipment

• Where auto ID is not installed highest efficiency LED or T5

fluorescents can be used

Energy Efficient Lighting for Dairy farms

Necessity for decision support

• Every farm is different (cows numbers, farmer age, expanding,

greenfield, water supply, milking system, grant eligibility)

• Many farms going through a phase of facility renewal ( good

opportunity to build in energy efficiency)

• Difficult to distil generalised recommendations

• Ability to deliver farm specific advice related to energy

management decisions is a huge step forward

Decision support for energy efficiency projects

• Dairy Energy

Decision-

Support Tool

Thank You