The Department of Energy's Energy Integrated Farm System program

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:5491127

Breckenridge, R P; Corrigan, M K; Thompson, W N; Price, D R; Bramwell, D L

The Department of Energy (DOE) recently completed a program investigating the feasibility of integrating diverse energy production and energy conservation practices to reduce agriculture's dependence on fossil fuels. The Energy Integrated Farm System (EIFS) program was established in 1980 in response to the hardship imposed on US farmers by high fuel costs and unreliable fuel supplies. Seven farms located in various geographical regions of the US and Puerto Rico participated in the program. Each of these farms developed an energy integrated farm system project that used a unique combination of energy production and energy conservation methods to supply energy to the farm and reduce the farm's dependence on energy produced from nonrenewable sources such as coal and oil. Methods used at these projects included conservation tillage, solar heating, waste heat recovery, methane production from the anaerobic digestion of animal manure, electricity production from biogas, alcohol fuel production, fluidized-bed combustion of crop wastes, and computer-aided conservation irrigation. This paper gives a summarized report of the work done at the seven projects. It presents highlights and results, provides an overview of successes and problems and lists recommendations. 12 figs., 3 tabs.

• Research Organization: EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls (USA); USDOE, Washington, DC; Florida Univ., Gainesville (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-76ID01570
• OSTI ID: 5491127
• Report Number(s): EGG-M-33487; CONF-880215-2; ON: DE88006791
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320300* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Industrial & Agricultural Processes
AGRICULTURE
ALCOHOL FUELS
ALKANES
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
BIOCONVERSION
DIGESTION
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FARMS
FUELS
HYDROCARBONS
INDUSTRY
MANAGEMENT
METHANE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
RECOMMENDATIONS
SYNTHETIC FUELS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION