The owners of the Castello Monte Vibiano Vecchio farm in Italy claim it will be the first in the world to be entirely carbon neutral.
A BBC article highlights a solar powered battery-charging station as one of the main ways the farm can completely offset greenhouse gas emissions.
The solar unit is said to use a new type of battery that can store enough power to run the farm for three days, in contrast to other solar arrays that must use electricity as soon as it’s generated.
Cellstrom, the Austrian company that built the liquid-based battery, says it plans to extend the battery’s storage capacity to ten days.
In addition, the farm will employ second-generation biofuels, sunlight-reflecting paint, and wood chips to heat their boilers.
Lorenzo Fasola Bologna, chief executive of the farm, which specializes in olive oil, expects a return on their investment after five years.
“From then on, our fossil fuel bills will disappear,” he told the BBC.
–Julia Hengst/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“Italy aims for carbon-neutral farm”
BBC News, October 18, 2008