Carbon neutral farms - an experiment in Italy

[chris]

I'd like to see some carbon neutral farms around Sheffield supplying vegetables to local markets and veg box schemes with a carbon neutral delivery system (bikes, horses or electric vans), this is about a farm in Italy:

Italy aims for carbon-neutral farm

An attempt to create a pioneering carbon-neutral farm is starting in Italy.

A range of new technologies is being installed at the farm in the central region of Umbria as part of an experiment to cut its CO2 emissions to zero over the course of the next year.

They include everything from electric farm vehicles to sun-reflecting paint on storage buildings.

golf carts and electric bikes will become the key means of transport for farm workers and that they can all charge up at the battery centre.

Cellstrom estimates the farm can save 4,500 litres of petrol every year and reduce CO2 emissions by 10 tons.

"Yes, it is an expensive initial investment," says Lorenzo, without revealing the actual cost. "But we think that we will start getting our investment back after five years or so. From then on, our fossil fuel bills will disappear."

They have bought a fleet of special miniature tractors that use a new generation of bio fuels. The farm says the new fuels will not be coming from food chain products like corn and therefore will not diminish world food supplies.

Then there are the farm's boilers which are used to create heat in the olive oil production process.

They will use wood chips instead of methane gas, as in the past. The wood is a renewable source of energy found from supplies already on the farm.

Even storage tanks on the farm are being painted white to reflect sunlight away from earth, in an effort to cut the effects of global warming.

And, just to make sure they have not left anything else out, they have also planted 10,000 trees to soak up and offset any unforeseen CO2 emissions.

And when asked if it makes economic sense for a business to attempt all this, he replies: "Absolutely. We are not a charity."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7669522.stm