Evaporative Conduction Cow Cooling
This technology provides energy-efficient cooling for cows in hot climates. Bedding area beneath the cow is cooled using heat exchange mats embedded in the soil. Water flowing through the heat exchange mats will be chilled using a novel low-energy sub-wet bulb evaporative chiller.
How Does It Work
The majority of California’s dairy farms are located in the Central Valley, where summers are very hot and dry. Their milk cows need to be cooled both for health and productivity reasons.
California dairy farmers rely mainly on various forms of forced convection and evaporative cooling systems such as large circulation fans and high-water-volume feed lane soaking systems. This requires significant amounts of water and electricity.
Evaporative Chiller Conduction Cooling uses heat exchange mats to keep cows cool, saving energy and water compared to traditional techniques.
Benefits for Tulare
Drought Resilience
The proposed conduction cooling has the potential to reduce water consumption by 73% as compared to current soaker systems. An implementation in 10% of dairies equates to 4990 acre-feet of water savings per year.
Supports Electric Reliability
Conduction Cooling has the potential to reduce electricity use by 38%. An implementation in 10% of dairies equates to approximately 7.5 million kWh of electricity savings.
Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Production of “Integrated Distributed Energy Resources” (IDER: energy efficiency, demand reduction, distributed renewable energy production) reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing electric use and electric demand reduces production and/or purchase of marginal electric resources, much of which is produced by natural gas.