Using compost heat for perennial production

Using compost heat for perennial production

Summary

The goals of our project are to heat our greenhouses with heat generated from our compost pile. We would like to generate enough heat to maintain a 45 F temperature in the greenhouse. The greenhouse to be used in this project will support perennial production.       It is our desire to understand if compost heat is a viable heating alternative to fuel oil. If so, this would reduce heating costs for growers and allow similar farm businesses to be more profitable.

Kelly McAdam, UNH Cooperative Extension Field Specialist for Belknap County, continues to be our technical advisor. She has been outstanding, and we never would have got off the ground without her. She brought in experts to assist us with the engineering and monitoring aspects of this project. Stan Weeks, an agriculture engineer, and John Porter, UNH Cooperative Extension Dairy Specialist, Emeritus, have both been to the farm several times to offer advice and answer questions as we design this project and plan for the necessary parts of the heating apparatus. Brian Krug, UNH Cooperative Extension Greenhouse Specialist has also offered expertise on methods for monitoring the temperatures of both the compost pile and the greenhouse with a system that will provide readings wirelessly to our laptop computer.

There have been no changes in our scale of production, nor our farm.

Accomplishments/Milestones

To date, we have only begun the fabrication of the heating coil.       Considerable amount of time has been spent on the design phase of this project. We have consulted with the individuals mentioned above, as well as the fabricator who will carry out the construction of this project. We now have a better understanding for the materials and labor that will be needed in moving forward. We will be ready to move on to the construction phase of this project once we clarify the changes.

Since the design of the project has become more clear, we have found it necessary to revise the materials and supplies portion of our budget, as well as to modify the amount budgeted for labor. Only a few items have been purchased to date, allowing us more flexibility in making these changes to our budget.       Due to this delay, it is our plan to begin construction this spring with a completion date of September 2014. We will begin perennial production at this time, and implement our project.  Thus, we do not yet have results from this project.

Collaborators: