Beer Brewery Has a Solution for What Ales Us: Walk to the Pub
by Warren McLaren, Sydney 
on 09.17.08
What better way to reach Aussies with a message about climate change than through one of their favourite things:- Beer? Coopers Brewery have been running this series of catchy bus stop posters for a year or so now. Whilst I reckon these adverts probably do more to promote preferred mobility options, than the actual brand of beer, others aren’t so sure. The Brisbane Times reports that consumer organisation, Choice, has complained to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, saying such ads are false and misleading, with their "big beer, tiny footprint" tagline.
But in this instance it might not be greenwash. On their website Coopers refer to their onsite 4.4 megawatt (MW) natural gas-powered co-generation plant. They claim the “efficiency of converting fossil fuel energy to useful energy of power and steam is 80%, approximately 2.5 times greater than a conventional coal-fired power station.”
Apparently this saves Coopers 15,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions compared to a traditional power plant. And furthermore they only use about 25% of the plant’s capacity with the excess fed in to the state’s power grid.
The brewery suggest, via their environmental initiatives page, that they are also good corporate citizens when it comes to water use, energy efficiency and waste materials.
Of course, plant improvements don’t of their own make for a truly green ale, as Lloyd alluded to when he ran the post; How Green is Your Beer?
::Cooper Brewery, via site visit.
More on Green Beer from TreeHugger. And these few are just a taste (hic!)
• New Belgium Brewing
• Mountain Goat
• Green Man
• Long Tail
• Adnams
Photography by Warren McLaren.
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I'm on my way!
let me give you a even greener suggestion
Reduce Carbon Emission, Reduce Waste
Brew Your Own Beer!
(seriously, I just brew about 30 pints of beer at home last month and they are quite good)
MTSK
Colors of Swallowtail
MTSK, you took the words right out of my mouth.
In fact...Coopers sells a starter brewing kit that is quite nice, it's how I broke into the hobby. Next spring I'm going to start growing my own hops, I'm super excited.
But yeah, the amount of petroleum it takes to ship a half gallon of malt extract is far less than the 60-80 bottles you can brew from it.
The only problem with that MTSK, is that while you may be more green by doing it yourself, 30 pints of beer is hardly enough for one person a month, let alone one person with thirsty friends!
That and drinking at a pub with said friends greatly reduces the chance of damage to items in your home that would need to be replaced.
this is excellent! Coopers is my favourite beer, now I have more reason to drink it!!
mtsk, they also sell beer brewing kits :)
Where I´m from-- Oklahoma-- you can get arrested for walking home drunk, even if you´re not stumbling not causing a disturbance, etc, etc. Of course you are probably likely to stumble, because sidewalks are very rare and do strange things (no curb cuts, broken, blocked by huge SUVs, etc)