Most milk and milk products that we enjoy, all start their journey from cows in dairy farms.
Even though cheese, cream, butter, yogurt, ice cream and the like play a principal role in our health and pleasures, they cost our environment and energy production a fortune.
There are currently over 213,000 dairy cows in Norway and around 23 million in the EU.
Each of them requires an average of 400 kWh per year of electricity in milk production, which corresponds to 5 kWh per 100 liters of milk.
That is over 85 GWh per year in the whole of Norway, and 9200 GWh per year in the EU.
This enormous demand puts a significant strain on our environment as well as on the economy of the dairy industry.
Milk production includes processes such as milk pumping, storage & cooling, vacuum supply and stanchion cleaning.
At PVadapt we have developed a photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector, PVT, that converts solar radiation into thermal and electrical energy more efficiently and economically than solar thermal or solar photovoltaic alone.
With the help of PVT, dairy farm owners can reduce their carbon footprint and energy consumption.
Dairy farms use a lot of warm water, for instance the drinking water is heated to 17 degrees centigrade since this increases milk production.
The strict hygiene required for food production also requires a lot of warm water.
The warm water can come directly from the PVT technology rather than using energy to heat it.
Additionally, this heat transfer process helps to cool down the photovoltaic solar cells, increasing their efficiency and lifetime.
PVT panels are also very convenient, as they can be used to replace conventional building materials, integrating them within a building or attaching them to roofs and facades.
For more information, visit www.pvadapt.com.
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