Utility Companies Offer Incentives for Energy-Efficient Lighting

Feb 25, 2021

By Heidi Lindberg

Supplemental lighting is most beneficial during November through February in Michigan, when natural light levels are at their lowest. An increasing number of Michigan growers have invested in either high-intensity or low-intensity lighting from light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in order to increase photosynthesis and plant growth or to control flowering. LEDs continue to grow in popularity within the greenhouse industry as their efficiency increases and their initial cost decreases. In a January 2020 article, Erik Runkle provided the efficacy of high-intensity LEDs on the market that met the requirements for the “Qualified Product List” set by the Design Lights Consortium (DLC) in 2018. In order for an LED light fixture to meet the standards, it must have a five-year warranty, photosynthetic light maintenance of at least 36,000 hours, and a minimum efficacy of 1.9 μmol·J–1. The efficacy of a lamp is the amount of photosynthetic light emitted per unit of energy consumed by the lamp. As of February 2021, there were more than 280 LED products that met those standards.

While the initial cost of installing LEDs, especially high-intensity LEDs, might still not be economical, Michigan State University Extension recommends that greenhouse or controlled-environment agricultural crop producers reevaluate the costs of an installation frequently. The technology continues to evolve rapidly and costs continue to decrease. In addition, Michigan utility companies such as DTE Energy and Consumers Energy offer rebates and incentives for installing energy-saving technologies, including supplemental lighting.

For DTE Energy electric customers, DTE has recently launched the DTE Energy Grow Energy Efficiently Pilot Program for lighting upgrades. DTE will help producers identify which new LEDs qualify for the incentive program. Greenhouse owners who install these energy-efficient LEDs could save up to $0.15 per kWh.

According to Lindsay Buckwell, program manager for Evergreen Efficiency on behalf of DTE Energy, "The Grow Energy Efficiently pilot program team is happy to continue to offer customers the current DTE prescriptive incentive rates and provide specialized customer support to help accelerate energy efficiency." DTE Energy Electric customers who are interested in the program can learn more about by viewing the “2021 Grow Energy Efficiently Pilot Program Application and Agreement.”

Consumers Energy has also released their 2021 Incentive Catalog. In the catalog, producers can find the requirements of agricultural LED lamps that qualify for incentives under “LED Grow Lights” on page 74. In addition to the 2021 incentives, Consumer’s Energy is also running a 10% savings on qualifying projects that are received during the first quarter or before March 31, 2021. For more information on the bonus program, check out, “Early Bird Bonus – Q1 2021.”

Source : msu.edu

Video: Western Canadian Agriculture: Hard Times Made the World's Best Farmers

Western Canadian agriculture produced the most advanced farmers in the world not through abundance but through adversity. The crow rate fell. The wheat price went nowhere. The brown envelopes stopped.

When the subsidies disappeared, the bad farmers left and the good ones stayed. And the ones who stayed could not just grow wheat anymore. They started growing lentils and canola and peas and flax and faba beans. They built crop rotation. They got serious about agronomy because there was no government backstop. That process produced the Western Canadian agriculture Dennis Bulani describes in this clip: the most advanced, most educated farming culture in the world.

His contrast with Iowa corn and soybean farmers is sharp. At a DeKalb farmer meeting in Okoboji, Iowa, he asked what crop rotation they ran. Beans on corn stubble, corn on bean stubble. How do you fertilize? The co-op agronomist handles it. Have you considered other crops? No need. We make so much money on corn and soybeans. Western Canadian agriculture was never allowed that comfort. And now those Iowa farmers are watching soybean markets lock up with China and corn prices slide, and they do not have the agronomy knowledge or the research base to pivot. Western Canadian farmers adapted on a dime because they had done it before.

Dennis also makes the case that Western Canadian agriculture keeps adapting in real time. Low commodity prices over the past year have pushed growers to look seriously at precision spot-spray technology. He knows a neighbor who bought a sprayer with the seeing-eye system and sprayed only 80 out of 320 acres. As a chemical retailer Dennis acknowledges that will affect his sales. He supports it anyway, because if it advances Canadian agriculture and makes farmers money, that is a good outcome.

The lesson Dennis draws from the tale of two farms: continuous improvement is the only durable strategy. When canola was $22 a bushel some growers went to Arizona instead of the Crop Production Show. When the price came down those same growers came back to the research and the discipline. Products do not go on Rack Petroleum's shelves unless they pass a replicated trial first. That is what Western Canadian agriculture built through hard times: farmers who do the work whether the times demand it or not.

Dennis Bulani is CEO of Rack Petroleum and Ultimate Yield in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Dan Aberhart hosts GTF Productions, Western Canadian Agriculture's foremost live briefing platform and its foremost AI training platform for ag operators