I can't help it, but I tend to fall on the side of skepticism when I hear of a huge corporation putting out a "green" product. More often than not it involves a little improvement and doesn't really push the envelope...so when I read that Anheuser-Busch is "pouring 5 million green beers next year", I held back the urge to yawn...but I'm glad I did. Turns out the massive brewer is doing something pretty interesting.
From Environmental Leader:
"The company is currently installing alternative energy technology at its Houston and Fairfield breweries, which will be operational by year end. Once completed 10 out 12 Anheuser-Busch breweries in the U.S. will be powered by alternative energy.
The Fairfield brewery will generate 15 percent of its fuel needs from a bio-energy recovery system, which turns brewing wastewater into fuel. Three percent of the brewery’s electricity needs will be generated on-site through solar panels."
These are the kinds of stories that point to a nice marriage of sustainable business with innovation--using a bi-product of the product to power the equipment to make the beer?! Yes!
Labels: beer, Environmental Leader, sarah
A friend of mine sent this article from
Reason Magazine along to me this morning:
May 4, 2007, 10:20am
Greg Rehmke passes along
this story with the comment, "Finally! A product that mixes biotech, alternative energy, waste reduction, clean water, and...beer."
Scientists and Australian beer maker Foster's are teaming up to generate clean energy from brewery waste water -- by using sugar-consuming bacteria....
The complex technology harnesses the chemical energy that the bacteria releases from the organic material, converting it into electrical energy.
The 660-gallon fuel cell will be 250 times bigger than a prototype that has been operating at the university laboratory for three months, [Professor Jurg] Keller said.
"Brewery waste water is a particularly good source because it is very biodegradable...and is highly concentrated, which does help in improving the performance of the cell," Keller said.
Before you stiff the power company and outfit your house with beer batteries, note that Keller also says this isn't "going to make an enormous amount of power." Not just because it's a small, subsidized pilot project that might or might not turn into something larger, but because "it's primarily a waste water treatment that has the added benefit of creating electricity." Which would make a fine slogan for Foster's, if it ever wants to retire "Australian for Beer."
Labels: beer, fan resources, reason magazine, sarah
