Penciling out the Economics of a Green Lightning machine...
- Green Lightning
- Jun 24
- 1 min read
With current UAN prices around $0.64 per unit of N, and corn prices projected to stay in the $4.00/bushel range, profit is looking slim again for the American farmer in 2025. However, overcoming this difficult era for row crop farms is becoming an actual possibility. By reducing input costs, farmers can increase profits in the coming seasons.
A very common question for Green Lightning is also one of the most important:
Is it economical to produce your own nitrogen?
A 6-head Green Lightning machine uses 1,100 watts, which is 1.1 kWh. To calculate your hourly cost to run the unit, take what you pay per kilowatt hour (most states are around $0.12/kWh), multiply by 1.1 (kWh), then multiply by 8,760 (hours in a year). That gives you the projected annual operating cost:
$0.12 × 1.1 × 8,760 = $1,156.32 per year.
The 6-head Green Lightning machine produces 100 gallons of product per day, or 36,500 gallons per year. Each gallon equates to about 3 pounds of nitrogen, which means the unit produces over 100,000 pounds of N per year.
Now take the annual electricity cost — $1,156.32 (assuming $0.12/kWh in Kansas) — and divide it by 100,000 lbs of N. That gives you a nitrogen production cost of just $0.0115 per pound of N (or about $0.035 per gallon).
Of course, the cost of the machine itself, plus filters and maintenance, must be factored in — but even then, the savings and potential are significant. What a difference you can make!
how are guys planning to store this product durring the winter months
we have a machine and have trials out.I see evidence of nitrogen in the water but I do not believe the 3 pound claim at this time .If it takes 90 gallon of gl to equal 60 of 28 and the cost of storage tanks need to be factored in the pay back is closer to 3 years than the 1 that is advertised. that would still make since but the jury is still out on this farm
Hey there. I'm a fan of your technology and I enjoyed your newsletter, but I have questions about your advertized N numbers.
If 1 gallon of PAW contains 3 lbs of Nitrogen, that means you have an astounding 100% water to nitric acid conversion rate. Nitric acid weighs 12 lbs per gallon, and a nitric acid molecule is .25 nitrogen.
Even if you have mistaken N for nitric acid, and your PAW contains .75 lbs of Nitrogen instead of 3lbs, that is still a huge conversion rate (25%)- much higher than Haber Bosch or any other PAW producer. I have seen litmus strips of your output PAW reading below 200ppm where the grower used RO input water, so I a…
I too am a current customer and am performing field trials. I would agree that the posting is simplistic and does not cover all the bases. There is the cost of water, storage, and extra equipment (RO system).
Context for each field is important. What crops are being grown and how many extra passes in the field are having to be made. A determination of cost per acre needs to be made in the context.
I think conceptionally this has promise but the jury is still out. I am not willing to crusade for this equipment quite yet.
I would be nice to have more field evaluation data posted.
I am a current customer doing on farm trials.
Firstly I’d say this product is so new and there is not enough data to back its claims at this point.
Secondly while the product is cheap to produce the machinery needed to produce it is not. When you factor in the necessary equipment and maintenance costs it gets a bit muddy.