With the lighting deteriorating in one of the buildings that houses cows on his farm, William Buss knew he had to do something to improve the lighting. One of the options was to replace the fluorescent light fixtures with LED light fixtures.

The decision was easy once he found out that his farm would qualify for energy conservation rebates from Central Wisconsin Electric Cooperative (CWEC) if he made the switch to LED lights.

“It made the project make sense,” Buss said. “Without the energy conservation rebates, we probably would have just stuck money into new lightbulbs.”

Buss has been farming since 1982, and is a third-generation farmer.

“It started with my grandpa, then my dad,” Buss said. “I farmed with my dad for a few years. He retired and the family and I have been farming ever since.”

Buss said his grandpa settled in the area and started farming after arriving from Germany in the late 1880s. 

The farm currently has around 500 milking cows. It also has around 400 heifers and calves. The total acreage of the farm is around 1,600 acres.

The process of obtaining the energy conservation rebates was easy, Buss said.

“The supplier did all the work,” he said. “I mainly just gave him the information and he took care of it. It was no problem at all.”