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Reduced Pressure Irrigation Investment Economics
Author(s) -
Taylor Donald C.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr022i002p00121
Subject(s) - investment (military) , economics , irrigation , yield (engineering) , energy (signal processing) , unit (ring theory) , environmental science , natural resource economics , mathematics , physics , statistics , ecology , mathematics education , politics , political science , law , biology , thermodynamics
Because reduced pressure irrigation is energy saving, many commentators conclude that it is also cost saving. The validity of this proposition is examined in this article. A central focus is whether yields are likely to be less with reduced pressure. If yields are not likely to be less and the purchase of a new irrigation system is expected to be profitable, clearly, a reduced pressure unit should be selected. If a yield reduction is not in prospect and the conversion of an existing conventional high pressure system to reduced pressure is contemplated, the decision revolves around the present value of the prospective annual energy cost savings from reduced pressure (the break‐even investment) relative to a dealer's cost for making the conversion. The article also shows that even small reductions in yield from reduced pressure irrigation (e.g., less than 5%) can completely erode the economics of investing in reduced pressure units.