Funds Available for Energy Efficient Updates

Funds Available for Energy Efficient Updates

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett
The State says it's got cash to help Colorado agriculture producers who want to update their farming and ranching systems with energy efficient tools and renewable energy projects.

$250,000 is available to Colorado agricultural irrigators, dairies, greenhouses, nurseries, and cold storage facilities. This funding is provided by CDA's Advancing Colorado's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ACRE3) grant program.

Jim McClay and his partners at Cottonwood Dairy in Fort Lupton took advantage of the pilot program by installing a heat exchanger to cool milk more quickly. Here's Jim talking about it in a CDA presentation.

"When the milk comes out of the cow and into the bulk tank, it goes into the bulk tank at about 98 degrees. We need it at 36 degrees for storage purposes. The faster you get it down to 36 degrees the higher quality milk you have . So with the heat exchanger, the milk runs through it at 98 degrees the ground water is running through it in an opposite direction at about 45 to 50 degrees and that takes the milk down to about 50 degrees so now my coolers in the bulk tanks only need to take the milk from 50 down to 36 rather than 98 to 36. Instead of the coolers in the bulk tanks running for 8 to 9 hours straight, they'll run for about 2 hours and then shut off. That's where you see a lot of the savings."

McClay says they did simple things to like installing energy efficient lights and were able to invest in a pair of commercial washers and reduce the number of loads to 3 a day compared to 15 before.

Applications are available online at www.colorado.gov Applications must be received by the Colorado Department of Agriculture by March 15.

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