Today, we talk to Sierra Nevada Brewing in Chico, Calif. You probably know them best for their widely-distributed pale ale. Cheri Chastain, sustainability coordinator, answers our questions (far more completely than the excerpts we’ve provided here).
The most amazing thing she told GreenGrog?
Cheri Chastain: A unique recycling program at Sierra Nevada is our herd of cattle. We have a herd of cattle that is pasture-raised completely organically, then finished at the University Farm. While at the farm, these cattle are fed spent grains from our brewing process. The cattle then become the fare patrons enjoy in the Sierra Nevada Taproom & Restaurant.
Did you catch that? Fare! As GreenGrog’s carnivorous blogger, let me just say: deee-lish.
After the jump, we’ve got a bunch more of her answers.
GG: Does your brewery use sustainable energy? How much (you know, percentage-wise … but hell, if you’ve got a kilowatt hours total, let’s have it)?
CC: We have two forms of sustainable energy being generated on site: Fuel Cells and Solar Power. We have four 250 kilowatts fuel cells that run on a blend of methane captured from our on site water treatment plant and natural gas. In 2006, the fuel cells produced slightly more than half of the total electricity demand for the brewery.
Our fuel cells are made even further efficient by the installation of heat recovery units. These heat recovery units capture the hot exhaust and run it through a heat exchanger to produce steam. This recovered steam reduces the demand places on our boilers.
We have installed a 503 kilowatts elevated sun tracking solar array that provides covered parking for our patrons. This system is enough to power our on site water treatment plant with electricity remaining that is sent back to the main brewery. We are also in the process of installing another megawatt of solar power on our warehouse roof tops. The two solar systems combined with the fuel cells will produce just about 100 percent of the energy needs of the brewery.
GG: Any other environmental initiatives?
CC: We have a fairly substantial sustainability program.
We can produce all the green power in the world, but if we don’t use it efficiently, the point has been defeated. Therefore, we place an emphasis on energy conservation and efficiency. We have installed heat recovery units in three areas in the brewing process to capture a by-product and reduce the demand on our boilers—kettles, boilers, and fuel cells are all equipped with heat recovery units.
We have installed a very sophisticated lighting system in our bottle shop that senses the amount of light coming in through skylights and adjusts the ballasts accordingly. We also purchase only Energy Star appliances, fixtures, and electronics.
Instead of bringing our grains in by truck from Canada, we began a program to bring our grains in by rail.
GG: Do you brew organic beer? If so, how long have you been brewing organic — and is it USDA certified?
CC: At this point, we do not brew an all organic beer. We do, however, make every attempt to ensure that the raw materials that go into our products are grown in a sustainable fashion.
We have an on-site, organic (not certified) experimental hop field where we grow three acres of hops. These hops are harvested and used in the production of some of our specialty brews. This season, we also had two fields of organic hops grown for us in Yakima that we will be incorporating into our brews.
We are also participants in the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association which seeks to encourage direct seeding, economically sustainable farming practices through lower agriculture inputs, crop rotations, and lower greenhouse gas emissions through better farming principles.
Other highlights: Sierra Nevada also has a CO2 recovery system that works similarly to the heat recovery system, they’ve just joined the California Climate Action Registry, they divert/recycle nearly all of their waste (97.8 percent in 2006, she said).
