Natural Gas

There’s some great news for beer drinkers–especially those who are worried about the environment. And it’s really good for those who enjoy German beers and the province of Bavaria is home to some of the best.

World Brews has partnered with Bavaria (not to be confused with the province), one of Europe’s most energy efficient breweries, to be the exclusive US importer of its award-winning portfolio of beers that includes Bavaria, Bavaria Light, and Hollandia. Sounds great, but that’s not the whole story.

Bavaria is an independent family-owned company that has been continuously owned and operated by the Swinkels family, which is now in their seventh generation of brewing. In the 1980s, Bavaria began making significant capital investments to reduce its impact on the environment. In 1995, former CEO, Peter Swinkels, began actively promoting “green” sustainability at Bavaria.

Some of the ways the company has gone green:

Every year about 1 million cubic meters (m3) of methane gas are generated as a natural by-product of the waste water purification process. This gas is captured and used to produce steam and electricity and to fuel the combined heat power unit. The captured methane provides 10% of the brewery’s energy needs. The unit also stores excess energy that is later used for malting, brewing and packaging. In 2006, Bavaria implemented a new step in the brewing process that uses a vacuum to save up to 700,000 m3 of natural gas.

The carbon dioxide that is released during the beer fermentation process is captured and reused in the bottling and packaging department, rather than released into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. It is also sold on the open market.

Stay tuned. More to come. World Brews and Bavaria are just a couple of a very long and growing list on companies around the world that are going green. So, sit back and enjoy a good Bavarian beer and salute these two companies that are setting an example for beer lovers worldwide.

–John A. Sullivan, News Editor, Oil and Gas Investor, www.OilandGasInvestor.com, jsullivan@hartenergy.com

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