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Abstract
Though the agriculture sector is vital to the economy, many farms continue to experience lower profits. Hence, it is essential to reduce farm operation costs. In particular, energy consumption is a major contribution to Texas farm operation costs. Many Texas farms have the potential to utilize solar or wind energy within the vast land of the state to supply energy for farm operations, which may be economically and environmentally efficient. In this project, a feasibility study was conducted to evaluate the potential of utilizing wind or solar energy for farm operations within Texas. Various databases were used to obtain the necessary data. The collected data were analyzed using geospatial and temporal analysis to investigate the feasibility in each Texas county. Based on the results, some counties with more farms and higher energy demands from farm operations also have the highest levels of solar or wind energy potentials, which makes these counties the best locations for promoting renewable energy in farm operations. In contrast, some counties with more farms and higher energy demands have the lowest levels of solar or wind energy potential, which makes the feasibility much lower to promote renewable energy in these areas. There are also some counties with fewer farms and lower energy demands having the highest levels of solar or wind energy potentials, so selling extra renewable energy may be an attractive option in these areas. Overall, the results show that the feasibility of utilizing solar energy may be higher than utilizing wind energy for farms' operations in Texas.
Keywords
Solar Energy; Wind Energy; Agriculture; Texas
1.Introduction
Although being vital for the economy, farmers within the United States find hardship in making an annual profit. One of the reasons for this financial issue is energy consumption costs. Related to this issue, electricity prices and any potential electricity disruptions must be taken into consideration. A potential solution is farmers using renewable energy as their energy source to provide reliable energy for farm operations. In the U.S., there are 2,042,220 farms according to the 2017 U.S. Department of Agriculture Census [1]. Furthermore, around 40% (about 1.52 million mi2) of the total land in the U.S. is destined for agricultural purposes. Consequently, energy is a key element in the agricultural activities performed...