The craft beer market is full of creative and agile people.
They understand how to mix the best hops, how long to steep their specialty grains and, perhaps most importantly in any company, how to use resources efficiently.
While the high costs of quality ingredients, labor, insurance, materials, cleaning and maintenance are all expected by a small or medium-sized brewery, adding a high energy bill means it could be difficult for those breweries to turn a profit.
Many breweries have turned to high efficiency products to improve their operating costs. One example is Powder Keg Brewing Company in Niwot, CO. Not only have they improved the efficiency of their brewery, they’ve also added style and comfort to their taproom. By replacing the old windows in their historic Niwot building with efficient high performing windows, Powder Keg created a more comfortable and sustainable building. They also took advantage of Alpen’s custom crafted windows to preserve the historic look and feel of the building.
Energy savings + a beautiful building + comfortable customers = a more profitable business.
Great Divide Brewing has put advanced its efforts to reduce warehouse energy demands by switching to LED lights. Since large warehouse spaces demand plenty of light for safety, Great Divide worked with a local energy solutions company to select better LED lighting—both increasing visibility and reducing energy. They estimated a savings of $110,000+ over the next ten years.
“Colorado’s major craft breweries take their commitment to environmental stewardship far beyond brewing, looking deep into the value chain.”
New Belgium is taking a deep dive—even looking closely at its packaging—to see what’s most efficient for the company, while Left Hand and Odell are upping their sustainability games through high performance mechanical systems and increasing efficiency.
The Brewers Association, a craft beer knowledge leader, has a great Energy Sustainability Manual to guide brewers through best practices. It provides tools especially for craft breweries to measure energy consumption, efficiency and progress.
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