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Not St. Paddy’s Day (yet) but let’s have a look at “Green Beer” – 2

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Not St. Paddy’s Day (yet) but let’s have a look at “Green Beer” – 2

Last week’s post left off by stating that Guinness Storehouse No. 4 is now a carbon-neutral building.

Meanwhile, in Mills River, NC, Sierra Nevada’s new brewery was opened in 2014. LEED® Platinum certification was awarded last year.

USGBC magazine writer Hennick’s piece quotes Sierra Nevada’s Cheri Chastain, sustainability manager, who says: “With Mills River, we were coming into a new community. We wanted to set the stage to show [that] this is how Sierra Nevada does business.

“We made the decision that we’re going to do this, and we’re going to do it right, and we’re going to get that third-party validation that tells us that we did it right.” (Amen.)

About sustainability, she says: “Sustainability is the ability to sustain something, whether it’s lifestyle or a business. Every project that we decided to do or every change in operations has an economic, environmental, and social benefit. We’re trying to get people to shift away from thinking that sustainability is synonymous with environmentalism.”

Permit me to opine that sustainability is ultimately about the biosphere and all its components; a would-be holistic truth.

Hennick notes: “The…brewery includes nearly 2,200 [PV] solar panels and uses microturbine technology to convert methane biogas captured from an onsite wastewater treatment plant into electricity.” Between the solar PV system and the microturbines, an estimated 32% of electrical power needs will be satisfied on-site. Green power is also contracted.

tree-like “solar canopies” installed in visitor parking areas

As with Storehouse No.4, rainwater at Mills Creek is captured for on-site irrigation and other purposes. Notable are the parking areas which were constructed with permeable pavers to allow immediate area percolation of what otherwise would be rainwater runoff.

Also interesting is the fact that engineers “built” a model of typical energy usage within a brewery of same size for comparison with energy modeling based on the actual brewery design specifications and commissioning protocols. According to the Sierra Nevada website: “…heat recovery and recycling, automation, and process controls can have a significant impact on energy conservation…” for an estimated 49% greater efficiency than “our theoretical brewery”.

OBTH, Sierra Nevada works with growers towards sustainable farming practices.

LEED ON! Enjoy Guinness and Sierra Nevada (responsibly), readers.