New Belgium Brewing Turning Wastewater to Cash
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 06.26.05
New Belgium Brewing, a brewery located in Fort Collins, Colorado, is using 40% less energy per barrel of output than the average American brewer. How do they do it? By being smart: They are aggressively targeting reduction of energy use through conservation and efficiency and getting the most out of what other less eco-savvy businesses would consider only waste. A $5 million system collects methane from the brewing wastewater and uses it to fire a 290-kilowatt electric generator. "When the generator is running - typically 10 to 15 hours a day - it supplies up to 60 percent of the brewery's power. New Belgium saves $2,500 to $3,000 a month by generating its own electricity. But the system's biggest savings came from avoiding the steep fees that would be assessed by the city of Fort Collins to treat the brewery's nutrient-rich wastewater."
All breweries could potentially do this, and most business could use taking a hard look at what they consider to be "only waste". As Paul Hawken says in The Ecology of Commerce (great book, by the way), waste is something that your business produces but that you can't sell. Reducing waste makes as much economic sense as it does from an ecological point of view, and if we are to have a truly sustainable society, we will need to eliminate waste almost entirely like in natural cycles.
Also, in 1999, New Belgium became the first U.S. brewery and one of the first Colorado businesses to buy all its electricity from wind power.
::Firms saving electricity - and cash , ::New Belgium page about their sustainability efforts, via ::Triple Pundit
this is exactly why i love this beer. bottom's up!!! also goes to show why colorado by far has the best breweries in the u.s. of a.
yup. beer can save the world.
...i wonder what they do with their waste after getting the methane out of it? i know some japanese brewries ferment the waste and turn it into l-lactic degradeable polymers... but cargill has the rights to that process everywhere outside of nippon-- maybe new belgium will be able to get them to make some of their "nature works" beer cups from their methaneless waste...
i forgot to say,-- their website's eco page really shows that these guys seem really great (..and further inspection leads me to think the post-methan wastewater (good enough for cleaning then?? 100% closed loop?) won't have enough waste to make post-beer plastic, guess you have to chose what's doable...
zero emissions is the next step. See what Gunter Pauli is up to in Nambia:
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/03/gunterp.html
zero emissions Brewery is the next step. See what Gunter Pauli is up to in Nambia:
[snip]
Water flows from the brewery into ponds designed for fish farming. Mushrooms grow on piles of spent grain from the fermentation process. Chickens feed on earthworms set loose in the grain.
[snip]
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/03/gunterp.html
Wow! As an Oregonian, I am surrounded by excellent craft-brewed beers. The veritable plethora of excellent breweries around here makes it difficult to decide on a brew from the beer aisle at the local supermarket. However, after learning how enviro-friendly and conscious New Belgium is, they just made my decisions easier: it's Fat Tire, Loft (who's name and crisp-airy taste is inspired by the wind energy powering their brewery), and all their other delicious beers for this treehugger!
I am a student in Fort Collins writing a speech on New Belgium brewery. I have just finished my research on the environmental developments and philanthropic gestures of the brewerey and have developed an immense respect for there efforts! Definately check out their website - www.newbelgium.com
The New Belgium Brewery is a truly inspiring brewery! Not only are they improving on already earth-responsible methods, but their beer is excellent, and widely varied. One of my all-time favorites is the seasonal Raspberry Brown, or Frambozen. Try the 1554 Black Ale for an extremely unique tasting ale, hard to describe.