NEWS HIGHLIGHT
N.S. rolling out farm energy audit program
A new program based in Truro, N.S., is aiming to help farmers across the province save money by becoming more environmentally friendly.
Funding from the Nova Scotia EcoTrust for Clean Air and Climate Change will help the provincial agriculture federation to create an energy auditing system for farmers.
There are currently no energy auditors in Nova Scotia who specialize in helping farmers.
But with the new program, Julie Bailey and one other person are training to become the province's first farm energy specialists.
“We essentially do a walk around on the farm and do a breakdown on everything we see that uses energy and how often it's used. Once we have the inventory we go from there,'' says Bailey, who's based out of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College.
Little things like changing types of lighting, investing in new technology and cutting back on using some types of equipment can all help a farmer's bottom line while helping the environment, she says.
The project is expected to help prevent more than 120 tones of greenhouse-gas emissions from being released yearly.
Several audits have already taken place to gather data and garner experience for the creation of a provincewide farm environmental audit system.
The program has the potential to be of great benefit for everyone, says Laurence Nason, the chief executive of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture .
“There are some pretty substantial cost savings to be had from some relatively easy retrofits on farms,'' he says.
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