Harvesting the sun for hot water on farms

Gerry Palano

Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency Coordinator, Department of Agricultural Resources

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Jess Cook, Berkshire of Pioneer RC&D (BPRC&D), program manager for our Massachusetts Farm Energy Program and Devon Whitney-Deal of Communities Involved with Sustainable Agriculture (CISA) contributed to this post. The Farm Energy Program is a collaboration of BPRC&D and DAR helping to provide technical and financial assistance for farms across Massachusetts.

On the evening of August 22 at Crossroads Farm in Ashfield, a crowd of more than 20 neighborhood farmers and agricultural producers gathered for a solar thermal workshop hosted by the Massachusetts Farm Energy Program and CISA. This workshop highlighted the practical farm use of solar hot water, current funding opportunities for solar thermal, and what steps farmers should take to installing a solar thermal system.

Solar thermal – solar heated air or water – is a practical technology with a proven lifespan and range of applications for farms (in addition to residential and commercial uses). Depending on the system used, water heated by the sun can reach between 140-170 degrees Fahrenheit. At those temperatures the water can be used for farm facility cleaning; farm housing and kitchens; food processing; aquaculture; space heating via radiant floors in farm offices, shops, packing sheds, or milking parlors; or under-bench or soil heating in greenhouses.

 
To determine if a solar thermal system is appropriate for their needs, farmers’ learned to evaluate several factors including: the volume of water needed to heat; if the season of energy production need matches the highest production period for solar energy in the summer; and what the target temperature is for air or water.

If you’re considering solar hot water, this is a great time to move ahead! The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) launched a Commercial Solar Hot Water Program, which commits funding resources for solar thermal plans (pre-design studies) and construction rebates. The studies are useful for farms that need heat for radiant floors, greenhouse heating or yogurt-making.

Solar thermal projects are also eligible for the Federal Business Investment Tax Credit or Treasury Cash Option worth 30 percent of the solar thermal system installation cost. (The Cash Option expires this December 31, 2011.)

Here are some tips to get started. 

• Learn more about the technology and establish your current and future farm heating needs by reviewing your energy bills and speaking with installing contractors service providers.
• Talk with installers – request an on-site assessment, consider equipment options, and talk through costs and payback periods.
• Read up on MassCEC resources and funding support.
• Inquire with your public utility regarding support for efficiency upgrades for existing heating systems using electricity or natural gas.

Please contact our Massachusetts Farm Energy Program for assistance moving from project concept to implementation, and ask to be placed on our waiting list for a soon to be released copy of our guide for solar thermal use on farms, Massachusetts Farm Energy Best Management Practices!

Comments

[Solar hot water]

It’s challenging to find knowledgeable folks on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks.

[solar water heater]

Solar hot water systems are environmentally friendly and can now be installed on your roof to blend with the architecture of your house. More than 1.5 million homes and businesses in the United States have invested in solar heating systems, and surveys indicate that over 94% of these customers consider the systems a good investment

[Water Heaters Indiana]

Solar energy is not only sustainable, it is renewable and this means that we will never run out of it. It is about as natural a source of power as it is possible to generate. Not only are we able to refuel our vehicles with it we can heat our water and light our homes.

[Amuy]

yup, thats an old video bud. watch some of the new ones. We now mass produce 100 of our coermmcial heat panels per month. That video was a myth-buster style poke of fun at back yard builders and beer can inventors. Yes they can work, yes we used other materials to try and achieve a better result, but bottom line, we have perfected the true heat panel systems and can do it for less than what anyone at home can. Thats the power of persistance and mass production, thats why you shop at walmart

[Shahmar]

I am speaking to you as an Electrical Engineer with years of eirpexence in the power industry. Solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, seismic, and other forms of power are not quite there yet technologically to be a feasible and viable solution to meet current energy demands. Much of the wind hype lately has been largely politically focused as politicians scramble to appease the green vote.I was at a renewable energy symposium this year where they looked at how things have improved. They have come a long way but if you look at how much it costs (money and pollution) to produce a wind turbine/solar panel and how much you get out of it, it's really about breaking even at this point for wind and not even close yet for solar.Power companies are obligated to have outages that do not exceed a certain percentage of time per year and when the renewable resource power generation begins to take over the reliable methods of generation we have been using for years we see the reliability of this power go drastically down. Now if citizens were more energy conscious and were ok' with blackouts at night and other strict constraints then perhaps it would be a viable solution but people at the moment do not want their power usage dictated to them.Don't get me wrong, I'm all for renewable energy and they ARE making breakthroughs every single day that will eventually revolutionize the power generation industry but that will not be for some time.