DSSED: Decision Support System for Energy use in Dairy Production

Abstract

The following report provides a comprehensive description of the background, implementation and dissemination of project RDD/00117. This project pertains to the development of an online portal for dairy farmers whereby the users of the portal will receive comprehensive information relating to energy use, electricity costs, carbon emissions, renewable energy and potential on-farm technology investments. With the rapid expansion of the Irish dairy industry resulting from the abolition of European Union milk quotas, the importance of decision support and information for dairy farmers has become extremely important. The first phase of the project involved monitoring the energy usage of 58 Irish dairy farms, and the subsequent development of a large database pertaining to energy usage on Irish dairy farms. In order to provide a detailed breakdown of energy use, electricity costs and carbon emissions on Irish dairy farms, a wide-ranging statistical analysis was carried out. The results of this analysis are available to farmers as part of the aforementioned portal, with a breakdown of mean energy consumption, cost and carbon emissions presented according to each energy consuming process on Irish dairy farms, as well as monthly trends relative to cow number and milk production. This statistical analysis is constantly updated due to continuous monitoring of 20 Irish dairy farms, with a dynamic information loop in operation between the farms in question and the statistical database. The second phase of the project involved the development of a dairy farm technology calculator which was included as part of the online portal. This tool provides a means for dairy farmers to input details of their current farm and calculates how investment in renewable and energy efficient technologies will affect their farm from economic, energy and environmental points of view. The technologies which may be analysed are plate coolers, variable speed drives (VSDs), heat recovery systems, solar water heating systems, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and wind turbines. In addition, the technology calculator may be used as a tool for informing policy relating to incentivising the purchase of these technologies. It is anticipated that the online portal developed as part of this project will be used extensively in the future to assist farmers in making informed decisions pertaining to dairy farm energy, costs and carbon emissions. It can also be used by state bodies to aid them in policy related decisions.