Over forty people from around southeast Minnesota visited Norm and Mary Erickson’s solar-powered greenhouse and hazelnut farm recently in Lake City as part of a Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) free tour focusing on energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Norm and Mary Erickson of Hazelnut Valley Farm retired and started a hazelnut farm in Lake City, MN. Their nutty adventures into the business of growing, harvesting, and processing the crop led them to install a solar-heated greenhouse with many innovative features. They look forward to a future where hazelnuts can be profitably converted into biodiesel.
“We now have over 4,200 bushes in the ground and nut production keeps on growing—from 10 pounds in 2006 to over a ton in 2011,” said Mr. Erickson. He passed around hazelnuts and hazel nut oil for people to sample. “Our market focus has shifted from biodiesel to the edible local kernel and oil markets because product values are currently much higher there.”
Beyond hazelnuts, people were interested in the Erickson’s highly efficient green house, which also incorporates renewable energy systems into the design. A unique low-temperature energy storage system is in the earthen berm behind the greenhouse. The Erickson’s filled three hundred and twenty 55-gallon polyethylene drums with water, and sealed and buried them in the storage area to increase the energy storage capacity and to speed energy flows to and from the ventilation system.
In addition, a solar thermal panel collects energy to heat potable water, with electric backup for cloudy periods. An array of solar thermal panels east of the greenhouse heats a storage system that can be tapped for heating a food dehydrator 24/7 and to warm the floor in the work area.
“This is a great example of entrepreneurship that incorporates local foods, energy efficiency and solar energy,” said Joel Haskard, co-director of CERTs. “Businesses of all different types and sizes are finding ways to reduce their energy usage and even create some of their own energy on-site. It can be a real win-win.”
For more information, check out our case study on the project, Going Nuts for Clean Energy: Solar-Heated Greenhouse and Biodiesel from Hazelnuts
