Going green for beer

Green beer? No, not that crazy green dyed light lager you sipped on St. Paddy’s Day. We’re talking about breweries that have reduced their impact on the environment.
    Over the last few years, there has been a lot of rumbling about what we, as brewers, can do to reduce our carbon footprint while still making all the great beers our customers enjoy.
    Several larger breweries have taken great steps toward this, such as Sierra Nevada in Chico and its fuel cell technology, New Belgian Brewing Co. in Colorado getting a bulk of its power from wind turbines in Wyoming, and Anderson Valley in Boonville installing massive solar arrays. We brewers use a whole lot of water to make beer; as a result, we are always looking for detergents and sanitizers that use less rinse water and are biodegradable to reduce the shock on sewage treatment systems, and for ways to upgrade our breweries to recycle wastewater. Most of us send our spent grain to local cattle farmers, instead of down the drain or out with the garbage.
    What can you do to help brewers reduce our carbon footprint? Drink local draft beer when you can, eat seasonally, and if you drink a bottled or canned beer, please recycle. Cheers and beers!

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