Energy Audit Report

PROJECT: Chicken / Turkey Grower

Report Prepared by:

Robert W. Beckmann, P.E., CEM

For

Chicken / Turkey Grower

April 5, 2016

DISCLAIMER

This report is not intended to serve as an engineering design document, but is intended to provide estimated energy efficiency savings associated with the University of Missouri Extension – REAP Energy Audit program. The information and recommendation represented in this report have been reviewed for their technical accuracy and are believed to be reasonable and correct. All savings and cost estimates are for informational purposes, and are not to be construed as a design document or as guarantees.

OVERVIEW OF OPPORTUNITIES

SECTION SECTION 1: OVERVIEW SECTION 2: PROJECT DETAILS Energy and Financial Savings Summary

2.1 Program Baseline

2.2.1 Opportunity #1: Upgrade Indoor Lighting with LED Lamps

2.2.2 Opportunity #2: Replace Old SBM Heaters with Quad Heater Units

Appendix A Copies of Utility Bills

Appendix B Details on Heaters including quotes

Appendix C Auditor Qualifications

1. OVERVIEW

Chicken / Turkey Grower, near Somewhere Missouri, is a poultry farm specializing in raising turkeys.

Chicken / Turkey Grower currently has a brooding building and grow out building. The brooding building measures 50’ x 360’. The walls are very well insulated.

From an energy standpoint, some of the challenges of raising turkeys is to maintain a proper temperature and proper lighting. The temperature of the young turkeys starts at 90 degrees F and slowly lowers to 72 degrees F. This is also assisted by the use of 12 ceiling type fans that bring the warm air down from the peak of the ceiling.

It can become very expensive to maintain a well heated, ventilated and humidity controlled environment year round. Heaters will need to run nearly constantly in the winter and can be required in the summer when the evening temperature drops. The heaters will also need to make up for the cooler outside air brought in for ventilation needed to keep the air healthy, not to mention the energy used to run the ventilation fans cycling on as needed.

Aerial photograph of Chicken / Turkey Grower (Google Earth)

The brooding building has 66 light fixtures which currently use 14 W CFL’s and the grow-out building has 35 light fixtures which also use the CFL’s. It was discussed that a higher kelvin light may be preferred.

The brooding building currently has 48 SBM brand gas heaters which are dual rated for 12,000/ 18,000 BTU.

Outside of Brood building

2. PROJECT DETAILS

A series of energy and cost saving opportunities for Chicken / Turkey Grower are presented in this section. The recommendations for each opportunity include information of the existing conditions, the recommended opportunity, and the calculations of annual energy and cost savings.

Table 1. Energy and Financial Savings Summary

Electric Utility RateSeasonally Blended Electricity

Rate $0.096/kWh

Seasonally Blended Propane Rate $1.28/GalOpportunities for Energy & Cost

Savings Annual Energy

SavingAnnual Cost

SavingsPayback Period

Greenhouse Gas Savings

Upgrade Indoor Lighting to LED lamps

2,525 kWh/yr. $241.14/yr. 1.4 Years1.7 Metric

TonsReplace Heaters with Direct

Spark Ignition2,530 Gal/yr. $3,238 /yr. 4.8 Years

12.8 Metric Tons

Greenhouse gas savings were calculated using the EPA on-line calculator.http://www2.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator

2.1 Program Baseline

An energy use baseline gives a benchmark for comparing energy performance from year to year. Developing a baseline is a valuable way to get started with energy management. The following tables and figures provide the initial baseline for this program.

The average electricity cost for Chicken / Turkey Grower is $0.096/KWh. This price does not vary much per month and there are no demand or peak charges associated with the bill.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec0

1,0002,0003,0004,0005,0006,0007,0008,000

Total kWh vs Month

2015 2016

The average propane cost for Chicken / Turkey Grower for the past 12 months was $1.28/Gal.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

GAL vs Month

2013 2014 2015

2.2.1 Opportunity #1: Upgrade Indoor Lighting to LED Lamps

Opportunity #1 is to replace the seventy 101 CFL 14 watt lamps with an equivalent LED replacement. They are on 24 hours per day for one week, 12 hours per day for one week then approximately 10 hours per day for the remaining 14 weeks. This comes out to 5,000 hours per year.

An equivalent LED lamp would be 9 watts.

Table 2. 14 Watt CFL Compared to Equivalent LED (based on $0.096/kWh)

Per Fixture Comparison 14 W CFL 9 W LED

Number of Lamps 101 101Lamp Watts (W) 14 9Initial Lumens 900 800Rated Lamp Life (hr) 20,000 25,000

Therefore, the conservative annual energy saving for replacing a 14 watt CFL lamp with an equivalent LED, can be estimated as following:

Annual Energy Savings assuming that the lamp is on 2500 hours per year based on historical usage:

(14 watt/lamp)(1 kW/1000 watt)(5000 hour/yr) - (9 watts)(1 kW/1000 watt)(5000 hour/yr)= 25 kWh/yr per lamp

Annual Cost Savings is calculated below:

25 kWh/yr x $0.096/kWh = $2.39/yr per fixture or $241.14 Total (for 101 fixtures)

The lights have a longer expected life, they are easier to keep clean and they can be purchased in a much higher kelvin color. The cost of the LED lamp is $3.33 or $336.33 for all 101 lamps. The ROI of the investment is as follows:

$336.33/$241.14 = 1.4 years

Light prices were determined from Amazon.com

CO-MO Electric Cooperative does have some business and agriculture lighting rebates available.

2.2.2 Opportunity #2: Replace Old Ceramic Heaters with Infrared Units

Opportunity #2 is to install new heating units and circulating fans in the brood building. The heating of this building is the largest energy expense of Chicken / Turkey Grower. The brooding building has 48 older propane heaters used to keep the chickens at the required temperature (from 90 to 70 degrees F). Each heater is dual rated at 12,000 and 18,000 BTU / hr. The 12 ceiling fans are mounted high and used to bring the warm air down from the building peak.

Figure 4. Typical Propane Heater

The existing propane heaters are SBM heaters and are approximately 20 years old. They need to be on 100% of the time for the first week then progressively less until they are on approximately 50% of the time by end of the 7 weeks the birds spend in the brooding building. Based on these numbers, the heaters will be on an average of 400 hours per brood. Wm Dicus Farms raises four broods of birds each year. The heaters are dual rated and therefore an average rating of 15,000 Btu/hr will be used for the calculations.

Using these numbers, then the propane usage should calculate to be:

Four broods/yr X 48 heaters X 400 hrs X 15,000 Btu/hr = 1,152,000,000 Btu/yr

Propane has 91,000 BTU’s per gallon therefore the heating process uses:

1,152,000,000 Btu/yr X 1 Gal/91,000 Btu = 12,659 Gal/yr

These numbers compare to the usage provided by Wm Dicus Farms

Wm Dicus Farms is looking to install 11 Chore-Time Quad Radiant Heaters. The heaters that are being installed are rated at 80,000 Btu/hr. Chore-Time states that due to the higher efficiency of the heaters and adding the ability to zone with the units, they use 20% less fuel to provide the same level of heating to the floor of the building.

Using the savings presented by the manufacturer, the new heaters should save 2,530 Gal of propane per year.

At the current rate of propane ($0.75/Gal) this equates to a savings of:

2,530 Gal/yr. X $1.28/Gal = $3,238 / yr.

The installed cost of the heaters comes to $15,500.

The simple payback is:

$15,500 / $3,238 per year = 4.8 years to pay back

Appendix A – Copies of Utility Bills

Appendix B – Details on Heaters including quotes

Appendix C – Qualifications of Energy Assessor

Robert W. Beckmann, P.E., CEM

Robert Beckmann has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Missouri-Rolla (Missouri University of Science and Technology). He also has a Master’s Degree in Business and Administration from St. Louis University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Missouri and is a Certified Energy Manager with the Association of Energy Engineers.

Mr. Beckmann has been performing energy audits for the past 7 years and has done work in both Missouri and Illinois. He is working with the Missouri E3 group during its initial startup phase.

Mr. Beckmann is a full time employee of Missouri Enterprise and has worked for MAMTC/Missouri Enterprise for over 19 years.