Beverage World - October 15, 2007 - (Page 24)

COVERSTORY on Page 26 for details.) The business that started as a twoperson effort now employs about 300, but as large as it’s gotten—huge by regional brewing standards—it never deviated from its eco-friendly mission. It just gained more resources to ensure that it’s always an early adopter of the most cutting-edge technologies designed to further reduce its carbon footprint. Its brew house, for instance, uses the Steinecker Merlin wort boiler, well known for its energy efficiency. Though an environmental orientation has been part of New Belgium’s DNA since its birth in 1991, it was around its seventh birthday that it took things to a new level by becoming the first brewery in the US to use wind-generated electricity. In 1998, the brewery’s engineers were in the process of figuring out how to reduce New Belgium’s carbon footprint, targeting the fermentation process’s CO2 byproduct. “When we actually sat down and did the study, [we found that] the way electricity was generated—coal-fired power plants—had a much bigger impact than the CO2 we were making from fermentation,” recalls Jennifer Orgolini, a 14-year New Belgium veteran, recently appointed to the new, executive-level role of sustainability director. “Serendipitously, at the time, the city of Fort Collins was putting the pieces together to have the first municipal wind-powered program in Colorado. So they approached us because of our reputation as supporters of innovative technologies and sustainability, and said if we can make a long-term commitment to purchasing all of our power through their wind program they could afford to install another wind turbine.” Of course, that translated into an additional financial commitment from the company. Since New Belgium hired its first full-time employee, it has operated on an employee-ownership model, which has evolved to become a formal employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), whereby 32 percent of the company now is employee-owned. Before any decisions were to be made about spending more money on wind power, the employee population at large had to be consulted. “And unanimously, everyone supported the decision,” Orgolini reports. In 2002 the company completed installation of its own process water treatment facility, which has enabled it to clean water used for brewing and cleaning in its facility without putting any stress on the municipal BEVERAGEWORLD.COM 24_BEVERAGE WORLD_OCTOBER 2007 http://www.vacuumbarrier.com http://www.vacuumbarrier.com http://www.beverageworld.com/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Beverage World - October 15, 2007

Beverage World - October 15, 2007 Table of Contents Global Recycling Trends Editor’s Note CCE’s Recycling Initiative New Beverages: VeeV New Beverage Roundup Market Metrics: Green-Minded Consumers Cover Story: Earth’s Brewer Adina World Beat Beverages • Fetzer Vineyards Kim Jeffery, Nestlé Waters North America Sambazon Icelandic Water Holdings John Compton, PepsiCo North America Dennis Puffer, Coors Brewing Co. ITO EN Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. • Cuca Fresca Exports Jeff Seabright, The Coca-Cola Company Mendocino Wine Co. Doug Muhleman, Anheuser-Busch Seth Goldman, Honest Tea Supply Chain: Waste Management Production: Environmental Operations Operations Observations Packaging: Lightweight Bottles Trendspotting R&D: Eco Beverages • Ask the Expert Sales & Marketing: Green POS Materials Distribution: Green Fleets Distribution: Fleet of the Month: Manhattan Beer Distributors FleetBeat The Beverage World Top 100 Classifieds Ad Index

Beverage World - October 15, 2007

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