Less energy consumption and better indoor climate in pig houses.
In collaboration with Nordic Green Solutions, farmer Mads Niær Kristensen has insulated his pig stables so that less energy is used and a better environment has been created for the animals.
Every year, farmer Mads Niær Kristensen produces 40,000 piglets.
In order to grow and thrive, the pigs are completely dependent on sufficient heat in the farrowing stables. For four weeks, the pigs live in small caves. These caves are insulated with mats, which should help keep the temperature at the right level. The heat in the caves comes from special heat lamps.
»The caves have previously been insulated with some hard rubber mats, but they were not so good at spreading the heat, which was concentrated very just under the bulb. Now we have replaced all these mats with a new type of energy mat, which is much better at spreading the heat to the piglets, and which is much more comfortable for the pigs to lie on. This has meant both a significant energy saving and a much better environment for the pigs and their well-being,« says Mads Niær Kristensen.
When faced with the investment in new heating mats, he contacted Nordic Green Solutions, which he had previously received help with by replacing an old one with a new straw boiler.
»After a good collaboration with Nordic Green Solutions on the replacement of our straw boiler, it was obvious to contact Nordic Green Solutions again to find out if a subsidy could be obtained by selling the energy savings by switching from the old to the new heating mats, « says Mads Niær Kristensen.
Based on Nordic Green Solutions’ calculations, a subsidy would provide a payback period of just over a year for the heating mats.
»We can now run with much fewer heat lamps than before. We have measured the monthly energy savings to 4,000 kWh due to a much shorter operating time for the heat lamps. Where before the lamps had to run equivalent to 14 days, today it is only necessary that they run for 9 days, so that corresponds to about a third less electricity consumption for the heat lamps,« says Mads Niær Kristensen.
»Nordic Green Solutions comes with a very professional approach. There are many energy schemes to keep track of and they have the necessary knowledge which ensures that we get a good return on our investment. In fact, we were pleasantly surprised when the grant actually ended up being bigger than first expected. So no doubt we would like to recommend Nordic Green Solutions to other farmers,« says Mads Niær Kristensen.
»With the help of Nordic Green Solutions, we have made the necessary calculations, which have provided a good return on investment and a short payback period. It is thus a really good business case, where we get many years of use of the mats after the investment has been paid,« says farmer Mads Niær Kristensen.
The collaboration with Nordic Green Solutions resulted in less energy consumption and a better indoor climate in farmer Mads Niær Kristensen’s pig stables (archive photo)