USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced an initiative to use $2 million in FY2010 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funding to help farmers and ranchers conserve energy and reduce energy costs.
Farmers and ranchers may apply for the funding in the following 29 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The State Conservationists in these states have chosen to provide EQIP resources in 2010 for the Conservation Activity Plan of Agricultural Energy Management.
The initiative involves two steps. The first is an energy audit to determine energy used in farm activities such as milk cooling, irrigation pumping, heating and cooling of livestock production facilities, manure collection and transfer, grain drying, and other common on-farm activities. The energy audit will identify activities where the farm could be more energy efficient. The second step is the development of an agricultural energy management plan for cost-effective implementation of recommendations for saving energy identified in the energy audit.
The 2008 Farm Bill authorized NRCS to cost-share of up to 75 percent of the cost of developing an Agricultural Energy Management Plan. Eligible farmers and ranchers apply for the funding at their local NRCS office and then enlist a certified Technical Service Provider who can help develop the plan. NRCS has a webpage with information on locating Technical Service Providers who can assist with agricultural energy management plans.
Ok, I've been working on this on and off for a decade with little interest from anybody.
I feel USDA can help India develop a National Farm Energy Audit and Farm Energy Management Plan.The Report of the Expert Committee on Integrated Energy Policy (2006), has stated that over the next 25 years, ‘energy efficiency and conservation are the most important virtual energy supply sources that India possesses’. It is estimated that the economy has an energy saving potential up to 23% as a whole and sectors like agriculture, have the energy saving potential of 30%. Studies as mentioned in the report revealed that with 1/20th to 1/10th of the investment required for new energy supplies, it would be possible to save an equal amount of energy that would have been produced.Energy audits in Indian agribusiness ventures and farms can be promoted by the government by different strategies like an required or essential criteria for applicants to have an energy audit as a condition of eligibility for certain agricultural grants or loans. There is a tremendous opportunity on the Indian farms to save energy and money by assessing current energy use and developing a cost-effective plan to upgrade or add energy efficient equipment
India with a population of over one billion inhabitants, more than one quarter of which are unable to meet their basic requirement, faces a formidable challenge in meeting its energy needs in a sustainable manner and at a reasonable price. To eradicate poverty and meet the basic requirement of the citizens, it is estimated that the economy must grow at a rate of 8 to 9 percent in the next 25 years. To meet the energy requirements for such a fast growing economy, India will require an assured supply of 3 to 4 times more energy than the total energy consumed today.By 2031-32, the power generation capacity must increase to nearly 8, 00,000 megawatt (MW) from the current capacity of 1, 60,000 MW. There is huge potential for saving energy through different mechanisms. It is estimated that nearly 25,000 MW of energy could be saved through energy efficiency measures. The Report of the Expert Committee on Integrated Energy Policy (2006), has stated that over the next 25 years, ‘energy efficiency and conservation are the most important virtual energy supply sources that India possesses’. It is estimated that the economy has an energy saving potential up to 23% as a whole and sectors like agriculture, have the energy saving potential of 30%. Studies as mentioned in the report revealed that with 1/20th to 1/10th of the investment required for new energy supplies, it would be possible to save an equal amount of energy that would have been produced.
There is growing consensus that the way agriculture and the Indian food system use energy is a matter of urgent national importance. Most of the problems our food system faces today are because of its reliance on fossil fuels, and to the extent that our policies wring the oil out of the system and replace it with the energy of the sun, those policies will simultaneously improve the state of our health, our environment, and our security.
Energy audits in Indian agribusiness ventures and farms can be promoted by the government by different strategies like an required or essential criteria for applicants to have an energy audit as a condition of eligibility for certain agricultural grants or loans. There is a tremendous opportunity on the Indian farms to save energy and money by assessing current energy use and developing a cost-effective plan to upgrade or add energy efficient equipment
Really? $2 million?
So out of the 29 states approximately 100 or so farms could receive funding to receive energy audits and pay for some cost effective energy improvements. Maybe 200 if this is a matching program. USDA keeps trying to look good with programs like these but they are nothing but PR. On a national scale this program barely even exist except for the writeups provided by the USDA RSS feeds.