Retrofitting for the long haul

When we originally built the CCNF Arena here in 2002, it was the single biggest construction project this farm had (or has) ever seen. Not only does it dwarf every other building here at 140′ x 200′ (if you count the 20′ sheds running down the sides) but unlike every other structure on this farm, it’s placement required the making of a large flat spot on the side of Mt. Ascutney where none had really previously existed. That challenge was exacerbated by the reality that Ascutney, a long dormant volcano, is essentially one giant glorified rock. That lead — literally — to 6 weeks of blasting, 5 days a week. By the time we were done, the blasting and excavation bill had exceeded the cost of the building itself. I still get twitchy to this day, whenever we see one of the drill rigs from the blasting company out on the highway somewhere, as I remember back then being able to quantify approximately how much it cost us every time they would blow a set of charges. That knowledge is now comfortably compartmentalized somewhere in a back drawer of my brain where it is free to stay. In the end it was of course the right thing to do, even if our bank account perhaps didn’t initially share that sentiment. The difference between Cas-Cad-Nac Farm circa 2001 (two over-stretched 29 year olds with an adorable 2-year-old and 75 alpacas) and what we are today is quite stark and at least from an infrastructure point of view, it was first and foremost the construction of the Arena that allowed that transformation to take place over the past decade.

As the Arena finally went up, we had a rough layout of the barn in mind and had already selected where the sub-building inside would go that would house the vet and warm rooms on one level as well as the fleece room on the second story. We also chose the fixtures that would be the main source of light within the barn itself. The Arena was built with a translucent strip of siding running lengthwise along the side of the structure. While that allows filtered light into the barn on a sunny day, when it’s overcast or during the winter afternoons it can get pretty dark in there without some artificial light. Back in ’02 the only real lighting options on that scale were the dry mercury lights that folks would probably be most familiar with from venues such as hockey rinks or indoor field houses. We went with those as well and though they certainly worked magnificently over the ensuing years, they have also been energy hogs. In the 10 years since we built the Arena, its power usage has been the single biggest part of our farm’s overall bill with Central Vermont Public Service each month. We didn’t really have much choice at the time of construction though. Fluorescent units weren’t really an option as they didn’t put out enough light for our liking, the bulbs burnt out too quickly, they’re sensitive to cold, and to top it all off they make a lot of noise.

Ten years ago the only common place one could really find LED lighting was in the odd flashlight. The technology just hadn’t advanced or expanded yet to be used in other bigger applications and the idea of using them in something like a car’s headlight was still years away. Then almost 4 years ago, as we were in the midst of planning our new house here on the farm and talking about ways to make it as energy efficient as possible, we came across the new wave of LED lighting. Though within a decade from now LED lighting will probably be ubiquitous in new construction, at the time we built our house in ’08/’09 the idea of using nothing but LEDs for all of the recessed lighting in a house (versus say doing just 10 of them so we could qualify for some state efficiency rebate) was still considered fairly radical. We did just that though and combined with the other systems (a geo-thermal heating and cooling system, solar hot water, as well 30 PV panels on our roof that put power into the grid which we then get credited for, what’s called reverse metering), the new house uses less power than the building it replaced in spite of being more than double the square footage. As we built the house and got talking with the subcontractor that was doing our solar work, our contact person there pointed out that LEDs were really starting to expand in their application. She pointed out that if we really wanted to make the entire farm more energy efficient, the single easiest way to do that would be to replace the light fixtures at the Arena. The only problem at that time was that we had just replaced all of the bulbs in the original fixtures for the first time after roughly 4 years of use, not an inexpensive undertaking in its own right. Those weren’t bulbs you could just pick up at the local hardware store and to top it all off, changing them out required the renting of a hydraulic lift. With every thing else going on at that time, we elected to stand pat.

Well fast forward to the winter of 2011/2012. By the time the winter solstice arrived (aka Guinness season!) last year and it started getting dark here shortly after 4PM, over half of the bulbs in the Arena’s light fixtures had run through their normal life cycle and burned out once again. We were fortunate that the bulbs running down the center of the building were all still functional. So though we sometimes had to do work in that barn in relatively dim light, things were still bright enough to justify holding on until the spring before making any decisions about how to proceed. This time around though, when we looked at the cost of replacing all of the bulbs in the dry mercury fixtures and their associated long-term replacement costs (we’d need new ones again in 4+ years after all), plus their power usage versus the new generation of LED fixtures, there really wasn’t much of a question which way we were going to go. The LED fixtures we ended up selecting use 2785 watts less than the old fixtures while producing more actual light. In addition to that, even if we have them on for 8 hours, 7 days a week — which we never have  — they still have an expected functional life of 24 years! I love it when technological advances really work for us in an easily quantifiable way. Unlike the units they replaced they are also instant on/off, not needing to warm up to come to full brightness, and they are rated to work at down to -30 degrees Fahrenheit.

The true test will of course come when we start looking at the power bills this fall, though it sure seems like it was money well spent and when you consider the savings over time compared to the old fixtures, the LED units should pay for themselves easily within their lifetime. Though we do still harbor fantasies of coating the southern roof of the Arena with PV panels (we figures it could take at least 300 of them) and making the entire farm carbon neutral, for now this will have to suffice. Anyway before that happens, Ian first has a projected date with a small german midlife crisis car. Hey, I’m not a total tree-hugger, there are just strong leanings in that direction. I’ve spent the past 5+ year driving a Prius, just turned 40 last summer and well…let’s just say that I’ve got certain needs that will ultimately require fulfillment (get your mind out of the gutter!). Everything in its time and place my friends.

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