Americans are well known for their affection for Budweiser beer and now the tipple is just a little bit greener thanks to solar power; giving somewhat a new meaning to their product “Bud Light”.
The Anheuser-Busch Fairfield brewery, announced today that over 6 acres of solar panels are generating the equivalent of around 3 percent of the brewery’s electricity needs.
The 1.2 MW ground mount solar farm is located on Anheuser-Busch property near California Highway 80. The system will also generate Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) that other entities can purchase to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. The brewery is also considering the installation of a wind turbine and additional solar panels to generate more renewable energy.
Renewable energy use at Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. breweries is expected to exceed 15 percent by the end of 2009, meaning that around one in seven beers made by the company in the United States will be brewed courtesy of renewable energy. Anheuser-Busch is the leading American brewer holding over 49 percent share of U.S. beer sales.
The company’s efforts to reduce their beer-making carbon footprint aren’t confined to solar power. Recent energy efficiency initiatives have seen the brewery decrease fuel use by 38 percent, water use by 32 percent and electricity use by 14 percent over the last 5 years.
The brewery also constructed a Bio-Energy Recovery System that generates more than 15 percent of the brewery’s fuel needs by turning nutrients in brewing wastewater into biogas.
The brewery currently recycles more than 99 percent of the solid waste it generates; such as scrap aluminium and metal, glass, cardboard, wood, brewing grain, wood chips, stretch wrap and labels, electronic equipment and batteries. In 2008, the Fairfield brewery recycled over 90,000 tonnes of materials.
