Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Interest in alternative energies is high in Sweden today, particularly in the agricultural sector. According to the Swedish lantbruksbarometern (2009), almost all respondents consider the use of some form of alternative energy from the farm. While interest in alternative energies is large, attention to the alternative energy straw has fallen and is almost nowhere mentioned in the literature today. Three years ago, in the Lantbruksbarometern nearly 44% of the farmers would be willing to invest in straw as heating system on the farm. How do the farmers decide to invest in alternative energies? With this information a problem is presented for this paper.

The problem was formulated: what is it that makes farmers invest in alternative energies such as a straw boiler? To answer these question three farmers who had all chosen to invest in a straw boiler were interviewed. With an empirical basis of personal interviews the relevance of this paper reinforces.

The results obtained through the study are that an existing heating system in poor condition is a major contributing factor since the heating systems are more likely to be replaced with more modern boilers. Which resources the farm can provide is crucial depending on the type of heating system that is installed. All entrepreneurs have been satisfied with their investment partly because of lower costs and also a comfortable working effort.

With high oil consumption and access to their own straw an investment in a straw boiler pays off for all the interviewed farmers. High oil consumption leads to a high revenues and the repayment period become shorter. The convenience with a culvert system is that the benefits of straw fuel increases if there are many uses for the heat. Examples of these are houses, grain dryers and livestock buildings.