As a country, it’s safe to say Americans love their beer. That’s a pretty fair assessment considering there were over 3,000 operating breweries in the U.S. at the end of June 2014 and the majority of Americans live within 10 miles of one. Needless to say, the beer industry isn’t hurting for money.
That being said, just like any good company that tightens the proverbial gas valve to cut costs and increase bottom-line profits, the Molson Coors Brewing Company did just that last year when they upgraded their energy efficiency. According to the sustainable news source BusinessGreen.com, Molson Coors has saved £750,000 since last October from an onsite energy center opened in Burton upon Trent in the United Kingdom.
The £12.4 million investment was part of an ongoing effort by the company to cut costs, reduce gas emissions, and increase overall efficiency. The energy center runs on three green-friendly natural gas burners. The gas valves are used with the latest technology for low-NOx burners, feed water economizers, boiler blowdown heat recovery, and variable speed drives on pumps and fans.
These new industrial gas burners resulted in them utilizing 8.3 million kWh less gas and 4.41 million kWh less electricity than the older model would have in the same amount of time. The excess resources would be enough to heat 503 homes with gas and keep electricity running in 805 homes for one year, according to the company.
“The cost savings made have been utilized and re-invested into our brands, service and breweries,” said Victoria Segebarth, supply chain director at Molson Coors U.K. and Ireland, in a statement.
The technology and ways new energy centers are built has improved dramatically over the last decade or so, probably thanks in large part to the fact that industrial production has increased by around 30% over that same time frame. They’re hoping the new industrial burners will help them reach their goal of reducing energy consumption by 25% and cutting greenhouse emissions by 15% by the year 2020.