University of New Hampshire is a well-known research university, with students and professors constantly running experiments in all fields. Dr. Sazan Rahman is a UNH professor in the Agriculture, Nutrition & Food Systems program. His research is conducted in controlled environment agricultural systems and focuses on increasing production yield while reducing environmental degradation.

Rahman studies the impact of using various renewable energy sources in agricultural production and shared their importance through a UNH Extension webinar in October. He specified that “around 8% of the total energy produced in the United States is coming from renewable sources.”

In New Hampshire alone, 14% of the state’s total energy produced is from renewable sources. By 2025, the state hopes to generate 25.2% of their electricity from renewable sources.

With over 4,000 farms in the state, New Hampshire farmers utilize less than 1% of the state’s renewable energy. Rahman said these farmers have access to up to 20% of renewable energy sources and should start to use them.

Many environmental factors can be controlled with renewable energy, such as heating, cooling, humidification and lighting. “Electricity is the most useful form of energy,” Rahman said, and can be generated through sunlight, biomass, wind, water and more.

Biomass is one of the most used resources to generate energy, because there is a ton of it available. Biomass is organic material from plants and animals, including wood, leaves, crops and waste. Biomass materials can be collected, stored and burned to generate heat. This heat can be used to warm buildings, create steam or generate electricity through steam turbines.

“Although biomass energy can be more expensive than other renewable energies,” Rahman said, there are a lot of incentives at the state and federal levels to utilize the resource. He’s noticed “the pressure is there, the encouragement is there” – so farmers just need to make the change.

Sunlight can be collected to create energy and there are multiple ways to do it. Farmers can use solar/photovoltaic (PV) panels that convert sunlight into electricity and/or solar collectors to convert sunlight into heat. Rahman explained solar collectors heat up water with very focused and concentrated heat.

Neither of these systems can work at night, as they rely solely on sunlight. Therefore, energy can be stored throughout the day to be used throughout the night.

Agrivoltaics is a practice a lot of farmers are starting to adopt. It’s a dual-use system where agriculture and solar energy production are housed on the same land. Rahman is a strong believer that agrivoltaics not only provides “a resource of clean energy” but also offers “a new revenue stream for farmers.”

For more information on how to start a renewable energy system on your farm, contact your local NRCS and/or Extension office.

by Kelsi Devolve