The Role of Anaerobic Digestion and Solar PV to Achieve GHG Neutrality in a Farm Setting
Dairy farms are challenged to increase productivity while achieving environmental sustainability, where greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are at the center of the discussion. The U.S. dairy industry leadership has committed to a Net Zero Initiative to achieve GHG neutrality, but the specifics on how to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/6/1975 |
| _version_ | 1797471901260447744 |
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| author | Horacio Andres Aguirre-Villegas Erin Cortus Douglas J. Reinemann |
| author_facet | Horacio Andres Aguirre-Villegas Erin Cortus Douglas J. Reinemann |
| author_sort | Horacio Andres Aguirre-Villegas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Dairy farms are challenged to increase productivity while achieving environmental sustainability, where greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are at the center of the discussion. The U.S. dairy industry leadership has committed to a Net Zero Initiative to achieve GHG neutrality, but the specifics on how to achieve this are still uncertain. Life cycle assessment methods were used to quantify GHGs and net energy intensity (NEI) of a large (1000 cows) and a small (150 cows) farm in Wisconsin. The GHGs are 1.0 and 1.3 kg CO<sub>2</sub>-eq/kg FPCM and the NEI is 2.4 and 3.2 MJ/kg FPCM for the large and small farm, respectively. The GHG benefits from anaerobic digestion (AD, sized to process all manure on both farms) and PV (sized to match AD electricity production) are not enough to achieve GHG neutrality. Increasing the capacity of these systems showed that AD is more cost-effective for the larger farm, but the challenges and costs related to securing and disposing the extra manure needed for energy production limit its feasibility. For the smaller farm, the total annualized costs to achieve GHG neutrality are lower for PV vs. AD, even before accounting for any transportation costs related to handling the extra manure. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:54:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f81506fadc714e2da6f5a1b640a5aa5c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:54:39Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-f81506fadc714e2da6f5a1b640a5aa5c2023-11-24T01:02:36ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732022-03-01156197510.3390/en15061975The Role of Anaerobic Digestion and Solar PV to Achieve GHG Neutrality in a Farm SettingHoracio Andres Aguirre-Villegas0Erin Cortus1Douglas J. Reinemann2Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 460 Henry Mall, Madison, WI 53706, USABioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1390 Eckles Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USABiological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 460 Henry Mall, Madison, WI 53706, USADairy farms are challenged to increase productivity while achieving environmental sustainability, where greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are at the center of the discussion. The U.S. dairy industry leadership has committed to a Net Zero Initiative to achieve GHG neutrality, but the specifics on how to achieve this are still uncertain. Life cycle assessment methods were used to quantify GHGs and net energy intensity (NEI) of a large (1000 cows) and a small (150 cows) farm in Wisconsin. The GHGs are 1.0 and 1.3 kg CO<sub>2</sub>-eq/kg FPCM and the NEI is 2.4 and 3.2 MJ/kg FPCM for the large and small farm, respectively. The GHG benefits from anaerobic digestion (AD, sized to process all manure on both farms) and PV (sized to match AD electricity production) are not enough to achieve GHG neutrality. Increasing the capacity of these systems showed that AD is more cost-effective for the larger farm, but the challenges and costs related to securing and disposing the extra manure needed for energy production limit its feasibility. For the smaller farm, the total annualized costs to achieve GHG neutrality are lower for PV vs. AD, even before accounting for any transportation costs related to handling the extra manure.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/6/1975LCAGHG emissionsGHG neutralitydairysolar PVanaerobic digestion |
| spellingShingle | Horacio Andres Aguirre-Villegas Erin Cortus Douglas J. Reinemann The Role of Anaerobic Digestion and Solar PV to Achieve GHG Neutrality in a Farm Setting Energies LCA GHG emissions GHG neutrality dairy solar PV anaerobic digestion |
| title | The Role of Anaerobic Digestion and Solar PV to Achieve GHG Neutrality in a Farm Setting |
| title_full | The Role of Anaerobic Digestion and Solar PV to Achieve GHG Neutrality in a Farm Setting |
| title_fullStr | The Role of Anaerobic Digestion and Solar PV to Achieve GHG Neutrality in a Farm Setting |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Role of Anaerobic Digestion and Solar PV to Achieve GHG Neutrality in a Farm Setting |
| title_short | The Role of Anaerobic Digestion and Solar PV to Achieve GHG Neutrality in a Farm Setting |
| title_sort | role of anaerobic digestion and solar pv to achieve ghg neutrality in a farm setting |
| topic | LCA GHG emissions GHG neutrality dairy solar PV anaerobic digestion |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/6/1975 |
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