Nicole Hughes
March 22, 2008 | 7:39 pm EST
This article is not in reference to the St. Patrick’s tradition of dying your beer green, but instead a round of applause for the New Belgium Brewing company for its efforts to make their beer as eco-friendly as possible. A Popular Mechanics article describes their energy recycling process,
In the brew house, heat typically released as steam preheats incoming water. Temperature sensors automatically open windows to cool the building. Methane gas from an on-site wastewater treatment facility is piped to a generator, which produces enough electricity to cover 10 percent of the brewery’s needs. New Belgium purchases the remainder of its electricity from wind farms, and offsets some of its CO2 emissions by purchasing renewable energy credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange. But according to New Belgium’s sustainability specialist, Nicolas Theisen, there is always room for improvement. “We’re a partner in developing a process to use the carbon dioxide byproduct from fermentation to feed fast-growing algae in silo-shaped bioreactors,” he says. “The oil in the algae can be pressed to make biodiesel, and the rest can go into our waste treatment ponds to make methane.
The New Belgium Brewing company produces the delicious Fat Tire Ale which proudly features a bicycle on the front of the bottle. In support of cyclists everywhere, the company launched two a social action campaigns to encourage the use of bicycles in the daily commute. These two campaigns are “Team Wonder Bike” which asks members to take a pledge to ride their bicycle whenever possible, as well as the “Tour De Fat” a nationwide community cycling campaign to raise money for local charities throughout the Western United States. So if you love the earth, and you love beer, takepart and choose a brewery that strives and inspires social change for the betterment of all of us.
The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out our most popular articles of the week on a variety of subjects, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.
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Kerry:
On St. Patrick’s Day, nothing could be greener than a little green beer. The Sierra Club has a list of 5 eco beers, and I’ve added 5 more, to give you a list of the top 10 Green Beers you can drink to celebrate St. Patrick and Mother Earth.
1. O stands for Orlio and Organic. Orlio’s beer is 100% organic. Their organic seal means they meet the standards of both the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and the Vermont Organic Farmers. O’Really? Yes, Really!
2. New Belgium, which brings you the popular “Fat Tire” beer is based in in Ft. Collins, Colorado and, in 1998 was the first U.S. brewery to harness energy from wind power. Employees even volunteered to contribute to help pay for the green switch. New Belgium also recycles “waste” products into grain and cattle feed, and keg caps into table surfaces. And they use motion sensors on the lights and evaporative cooling in their new packaging hall.
3. Sierra Nevada in California, uses four 250-kilowatt co-generation fuel cell power units to supply electric power and heat to the brewery and produce the steam needed boiling the beer and other heating needs. In 2006, Sierra Nevada recycled 33,738 tons of materials –97.8 percent of their total waste, which may explain why they’ve won a WRAP Award (Waste Reduction Awards Program) from the State of California every year since 2001. They’ve even come with a system to reuse most of the CO2 produced during the natural fermentation. And Sierra Nevada incentivizes being green, rewarding employees for reducing their emissions by riding their bikes to work.
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Giulia:
