Proved conducted at the University of Virginia and South Carolina Florence Clemson University PeeDee Agricultural Research and Extension Center, the use of solar energy for the tobacco curing process to increase accuracy, and has been proved to be a saving of time and money method.
Modern tobacco production often is a time and labor-intensive. The tobacco baked can make or break the quality and profits of the tobacco crop.
Baked accounted for about 20% of the variable costs and 15% of total tobacco production cost.
Tobacco barn in North Carolina Long the tobacco barn Company (LTBC) developed a new hybrid energy, the use of solar and propane, is a bright spot in the Pee Dee Station in tobacco fields day.
In the tobacco field day speech, Clemson researcher Russell Henderson said: "have an insulated barn currently used tobacco barn solar energy barn sidewall or roof insulation layer; Instead, it has a collection solar heat air bags. prototype of the solar barn when you walked in the midday temperature significantly higher than the traditional tobacco barn. "
In the solar barn, the air from the bottom of the side wall of the barn four weeks into the barn.
The air passes through the air bag, back around the barn barn. This can be captured into the solar heating of the air bag of the air, and any heat dissipated in the barn.
A new standard tobacco barn cost about $ 36,000, while the price of the same size solar barn is estimated to be $ 35,000.
Many persons love to
smoke Pall Mall cigarettes, Kent cigarettes, Parliament cigarettes .
Hope, there will be approximately $ 7,000 federal tax credit, so that the solar barn once to enter the market, then the net cost should be slightly lower than the standard barn.
Bob Pope, owner and general manager of North Carolina of State E Qikang County LTBC attend a tobacco field day activities, and provide more technical details of the solar tobacco barn.
The walls and ceilings around the barn the solar collector heat after the black corrugated steel collector plates directly into the barn passive work. Propane into the barn barn with fresh air, it can furnace preheated before active work, "Pope said.
LTBC the barn not only use free solar energy, also confirmed that it can shorten the baking time tobacco. This is accomplished through the barn wrapped in a solar air collector. In the sunny days, the solar collector barn to keep the thermostat up to 135 degrees Fahrenheit.
Promotion of the Virginia Tech University agronomist David Reed, in the past three years, the efficiency of solar barn baking studies, in particular, the amount of fuel used by the tobacco baked pound test.
And baked efficiency 29%