He notes that the system works like a hybrid car, meaning it gets its energy to heat water from two sources: solar energy, used in the mash tun phase, and natural gas, which is necessary for the kettle phase. The reason the sun cannot drive the whole process, he says, is because the solar system cannot heat water beyond 180 degrees F (82 degrees C), which is shy of the 212 degrees F (100 degrees C) needed to make it boil.

For this reason, Lucky Labrador cannot go 100 percent green—though it gets kudos from enviros for reducing its natural gas consumption by about 25 percent in the past year.

Does the beer taste any different? Not a bit, Geist says, noting he has no regrets about his decision to brew green. 

"We discovered that going solar was not only good for sustainability," he says, "but a good business decision with a great investment return."

6 Comments

1. 1. jamerz3294 06:34 PM 3/16/09

   Hmmm.... I might need to take a Green Road Trip to sample this Green Beer *giggle*

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2. 2. hotblack 07:14 PM 3/16/09

   Nice! I'd love to support a brewery making the effort to do good business.
   
   This spring I'm making another big batch of mead, the 3000 year old way. It's kinda green too, I suppose.
   
   1. Dump honey in bucket.
   2. Set bucket by field full of flowers for a week.
   3. Put in closed pot.
   4. Wait.
   5. Enjoy!

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3. 3. frgough 10:05 AM 3/17/09

   $6,000 grand after tax subsidies. Riiiight. Because we all know that government money comes from pixie dust!
   
   The truth. The panels cost MORE than $70,000 because somebody else had to be taxed, money was wasted in handling the tax, and more money was wasted in paying bureaucrats to administer the tax.
   
   The Incredible Bread Machine. It should be required reading.

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4. 4. russell 04:55 PM 3/17/09

   $70,000 to save $3,000 a year sounds like a bad investment. There are many much better ways to subsidize renewables than a 10 to 1 subsidy. The money would be better spent simply funding renewable generation.

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5. 5. longshadow 11:04 AM 3/18/09

   Kudos to the young man for taking the first step in using renewable energy.
   If everyone could save 10%, that would help our energy crisis.

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6. 6. danielschwab in reply to russell 04:13 PM 6/28/11

   As a developer of commercial size solar thermal systems, the costs stated in this article seem to be way out of market related prices. Someone is inflating prices!

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