When you think about how something like beer comes from something like barley, you can't help but feel a great debt to Mother Nature. So we do what we can to return the favor: recycling shrink-wrap, office ink and paper, plastic bundle straps, spent grain, and water and purchasing only recyclable glass and six-pack carriers made with recycled paperboard.
We are actively helping reduce greenhouse gas through solid waste (paper, glass, plastic, etc.) recycling; staggering production to avoid using energy during peak demand times; investing in and using renewable energy sources; using skylights for natural light; promoting the "Bike to Work Day" Business Challenge and the "Drive Less" Challenge.
We use wind power for 100% of our electrical needs, reducing the demand for conventional, fossil-fuel-burning energy and reducing emissions of CO2, particulate matter and other pollutants.
When the city of Fort Collins is experiencing peak electrical energy demand, it sends a radio signal to the Hot Shot Box installed in our plant. The Hot Shot Box then temporarily shuts off some of the brewery's chillers. This helps even out the demand on the City's energy supply, which reduces the need to build new power generating plants.
We fuel all our diesel trucks with biodiesel, a renewable fuel made from American-grown vegetable oilseed crops. Biodiesel is biodegradable and less toxic than table salt and it dramatically reduces life cycle CO2 emissions by over 78% compared to petroleum diesel.