Are we listening?

Are we really listening to ourselves?

If you are a craft brewery, are you attuned? Way existential... do we really have obligations to society? To the environment? To a notion of a unified trajectory toward deeper values, a deeper sense of connection, or perhaps, a collective sense that presses all of us toward a new awakening, toward an era of both restoration and evolution?


Expected, correct? Adaptation? Evolution? I like Punctuated Equilibrium's high-gravity approach to system stresses and the courting and resolution of paradoxes.

More on Punctuated Equilibrium

Punctuated Equilibrium (PI) is an important but often-misinterpreted model of how evolutionary changes occurs. PI does not: Suggest that Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is wrong; Mean that the central conclusion of evolutionary theory, that life is old and organisms share a common ancestor, no longer holds; Negate previous work on how evolution by natural selection works; Imply that evolution only happens in rapid bursts...

Punctuated equilibrium predicts that a lot of evolutionary change takes place in short periods of time tied to speciation events. Here's an example of how the model works:

Stasis: A population of mollusks is experiencing stasis, living, dying, and getting fossilized every few hundred thousand years. Little observable evolution seems to be occurring judging from these fossils.



Isolation: A drop in sea level forms a lake and isolates a small number of mollusks from the rest of the population.



Strong selection and rapid change: The small, isolated population experiences strong selection and rapid change because of the novel environment and small population size: The environment in the newly formed lake exerts new selection pressures on the isolated mollusks. Also, their small population size means that genetic drift influences their evolution. The isolated population undergoes rapid evolutionary change. This is based on the model of peripatric speciation.




No preservation: No fossils representing transitional forms are preserved because of their relatively small population size, the rapid pace of change, and their isolated location.




Reintroduction: Sea levels rise, reuniting the isolated mollusks with their sister lineage.




Expansion and stasis: The isolated population expands into its past range. Larger population size and a stable environment make evolutionary change less likely. The formerly isolated branch of the mollusk lineage may out-compete their ancestral population, causing it to go extinct.

Preservation: Larger population size and a larger range move us back to step 1: stasis with occasional fossil preservation.





This process would produce the following pattern in the fossil record:

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Evolution appears to happen in sharp jumps associated with speciation events. We observe similar patterns in the fossil records of many organisms. For example, the fossil records of certain foraminiferans (single-celled protists with shells) are consistent with a punctuated pattern.

However, it is also important to note that we observe examples of gradual, non-punctuated, evolution as it is properly understood. The question that needs answering is: what are the relative frequencies of punctuated and gradual change? Or even more importantly from a non-shelled organism: is there a need and how do we move a new speciation forward? Speciation, in this instance, meaning how we cognitively, socially, politically, ecologically, etc., move forward, as brewers and beer drinkers?

Yeah, so? What to make of this Punctuated Equilibrium? Transformation? Our ability to respond way before (as?) events go down - the human experience (limitations, of course). 

How? Collectively. How do we get good data? Authenticity, transparency, co-evolution through co-creation and cooperation all seem to stink of fodder much needed for our own punctuated equilibrium. Mind shift? Mental economy? Social intelligence? Or are we just static victims of mass consumerism and industry pressure, reducing our amazing potential to the whims and economic dictates of age-old conventional "wisdom"?

Worst still, our mollusk-like stasis, sloshing around in perilous planetary challenges like snails separated into adverse conditions, look on but miss so many opportunities for survival, nay, flourishing. While punctuated equilibrium's effect on mollusks wipes a bunch of 'em off the evolutionary bus, all we need to do is wipe out, nay, replace, the dangerous trajectory us shell-less humans find ourselves in. Outbreed? Sounds sexy, but no. Outthink. Sounds rad. Thinking. Listening. Attuning - bringing back the fitness of the human experience, seeking out and manifesting a more sustainable way together.

Do you feel the external stimulus? Ocean acidification, climate destabilization, resource depletion, global strife over all of the above? Probably not much, but you face price fluctuations, six and a half acres of anxiety, or maybe you just get the feeling that we are squandering a really cool opportunity for civilization? Just the tip of the mollusk shell. We shouldn't out-compete, but in-cooperate. We can all grow together, as we've seen with craft beer, its culture, and especially, in its near-ecosystem-wide adoption of at least tacit sustainability awareness and action. We might be buzzed, but we're pretty sure things have gone awry. And because we are buzzed, we are no longer inhibited by it, but rise to the challenge. No fisticuffs, just a wobbly ascension to great adventures of innovation and restoration, collaboration and evolutionary capacity.

It can work, but one must think in these terms - a future orientation, a sensibility for both the micro and macro context in which we commence commerce, how we impact society-as-a-stakeholder, and the anticipation of a more robust, more durable, planet earth. Can we "speciate" consciously and purposefully, growing bigger in hearts and minds? Is common vision possible because common fate is assured? What other scenario could possibly trump this notion?

An in-the-works brewery goes off the grid New Chicago Brewing Company confronts a brave new world of crafting beer

An in-the-works brewery goes off the grid
New Chicago Brewing Company confronts a brave new world of crafting beer

The first time brothers Jesse Edwin Evans and Samuel Evans show me the empty, echoing rooms that will house their in-the-works brewery, New Chicago Brewing Company, they keep getting lost. Wandering through an underground concrete labyrinth, Jesse says, "Let's see if this goes through to the other section." It doesn't. "I took a wrong turn," he admits. "Now we're below the—we're above the—OK, we'll just go back. Somehow we just missed the tilapia farm."

The 15,000 square feet of space the Evanses are turning into a brewery is part of the Plant, a former meatpacking facility in Back of the Yards that industrial designer John Edel is refashioning into a vertical farm (it was the subject of a story in the Reader last year). In addition to the brewery, the 93,500-square-foot building houses 312 Aquaponics (which pairs a tilapia farm with hydroponic growing beds for edible plants including greens and herbs), the Living Well Brewery (which makes kombucha tea), and Green Submarine Pickles. Greenhouses, a living wall, and a shared kitchen are in the works.

The idea is to turn the whole compound into a zero-waste facility. The heat for brewing New Chicago's beer will come from an anaerobic digester, which uses bacteria to convert organic waste—produced in the building and by neighboring food businesses—to biogas (and sludge, which becomes fertilizer). The gas is then cleaned, compressed, and run through a high-pressure turbine (repurposed from a military fighter jet engine) to create electricity and 850-degree steam. The brewery, in turn, will produce spent grains—which can be used to feed the tilapia, grow mushrooms, and feed the digester—and carbon dioxide—which will be piped to the plants in the building to make them grow faster.

"The project is about closing loops," Edel says. For that reason, he's looking carefully at the energy needs and waste outputs of each potential occupant. He wants to demonstrate that even the most energy-intensive businesses can operate at net zero in a sustainable way. That's part of the reason brewing is important to the Plant: "It's an energy-intensive activity, it's a waste-intensive activity, and it's a food activity. There are no toxins; it's pure, clean stuff, and 100 percent of the waste from brewing is useful." Once the digester's up and running, he says, they'll be selling some power back to ComEd—but "they don't let you sell them much, because you get classed as a power plant pretty quickly."

Vertical farms and aquaponics facilities already exist in the U.S., though they're still relatively rare, but the Plant could very well be the first place to create a series of loops that includes an anaerobic digester, food businesses, brewing, fish farming, and plant growing. Most anaerobic digesters are used on large farms to manage animal waste, though some breweries are also implementing them for wastewater. Anheuser-Busch began using one at its New Jersey facility in 1985 to turn wastewater into biogas and now has digesters at ten of its 12 breweries in the U.S; Sierra Nevada and New Belgium both installed similar digesters around 2002 because their wastewater was overwhelming the municipal water treatment facilities in their respective cities.

Magic Hat Brewing Company began using a digester last year that, like the one the Plant will have, breaks down spent grains as well as wastewater and converts them to natural gas that becomes fuel for the brewing process. Steve Hill, the social networking manager of Magic Hat's parent company North American Breweries, says that the digester will save the brewery, which produces an annual 155,000 barrels, about $200,000 per year.

Anheuser-Busch's digesters cost $5 to $10 million apiece to build, according to Gene Bocis, who oversees utility and wastewater systems for A-B's North American zone; Magic Hat's was $4 million (though an outside company owns it, so the brewery didn't have to front the money). The costs are scalable to some extent—Edel estimates that the Plant's medium-size digester will cost $2.1 million—but even a small digester is likely to be out of the price range of most new breweries. Doug Hurst, who opened Metropolitan Brewing in Ravenswood three years ago, says he thinks most craft breweries are fairly green-minded, but "this isn't a huge moneymaking business so it's hard to justify a large initial outlay as a small start-up."

Still, Hurst thinks it would be nice to be able to do something more productive with his spent grains than send them to a landfill. Some brewers give them to farmers to feed to their cattle, but Hurst hasn't found anyone who's willing to drive to the city to pick them up.

A facility that produces essentially no net waste is hard to fathom. The city's waste removal companies certainly didn't buy it when Edel told them the Plant wouldn't be needing their Dumpsters. One representative of Allied Waste was particularly aggressive, Edel says: "I told him at the start, this is a zero-waste project; we're not going to be putting much in there."

This is not Edel's first go-round with converting an abandoned building into a do-good shared facility. In 2002 he bought a derelict former paint warehouse in an area of Bridgeport sometimes referred to as "Little Beirut" and gradually turned it into Bubbly Dynamics, or more formally, the Chicago Sustainable Manufacturing Center (the subject of a 2005 Reader cover story). The building is now occupied by artists, bicycle builders and mechanics, and a tutoring program, with a waiting list of people hoping to get in.

The building that houses the Plant used to be Peer Foods, one of the last major meatpacking plants in Chicago until the operation moved to Indiana five years ago. Lots of stuff got left behind in the move, from conveyor belts to old desks (with pictures of the Virgin Mary and the Pope still hanging above them) to drums of barbecue sauce. "This is the kind of stuff that's still left over after nuclear holocausts," Jesse jokes, pointing out dozens of enormous containers of hickory-smoked beef stroganoff mix in the brewery space's back rooms. "All of this—the entire contents of this room—is going into the digester. All of this is going to be eaten by bacteria and turned into power that's going to heat our kettles."

The Evans brothers are planning to produce about 12,000 barrels of beer in their brewery's first year, mostly bottled in bombers, but some in six-packs, and distributed only within the city limits to bars and liquor stores. Their brew also will be available in the 2,500-square-foot tasting room that they're planning, where they hope to serve some of the food being made in the building.

The fact that the building's occupants have decided to reuse everything possible has made the cleanup a longer and more difficult process than it might otherwise be. Volunteers the Evanses enlisted through Facebook and Twitter (in exchange for free beer and pizza) "cleaned and organized every little nut and bolt and tool," Samuel says. "It would have been much easier to put a Dumpster out back and lob it all in there." Instead, everything went into a storage room that's going to be the maintenance shop for the whole building.

The brothers think that the free beer helps bring people out, but it's curiosity about the project that's the real draw. "A lot of people are interested in learning about our sustainability practices," Samuel says. "A lot of people are home brewers. A lot of people just want to see how an odd process like what we're doing works."

It's going to be a relatively long process: the Evanses have been at work on New Chicago Brewing for a year and a half now and don't expect to open until March 2012. In the meantime, they're gradually acquiring equipment and licenses and experimenting with recipes. They're committed to making the hoppy, strong style of beer typical of the west coast that they fell in love with while living in California.

Both brothers grew up and went to school in Champaign; in 2004, Jesse, who's now 31, moved to Oakland. A couple of years later Samuel, now 27, joined him, and they started a web design company called 30 Proof, which they still run, and began dabbling with brewing beer in their backyard. From there, the brothers launched a beer website. "That was our ploy to get free beer at first," Jesse says. As they got into it, though, they started doing interviews with beer luminaries including Anchor Steam's Fritz Maytag and Dean Biersch, one of the founders of Gordon Biersch Brewing Company. They found even the most established brewers to be very accessible and welcoming. "We could call up any of them and they'd get excited," Samuel says. "Not because of who we are, but because of who they are."

Meanwhile, they expanded from home brewing to contract brewing for Whole Foods and local independent liquor stores and grocery stores under the name Lucky Hand (the brand still exists, distributed by a partner who bought out the brothers when they moved to Chicago). The two main beers they made were what Jesse refers to as "1850s beers," styles developed in the 19th century, like California Common—also referred to as "steam beer," although Anchor Brewing has trademarked that term. The brothers used all organic ingredients (though they never pursued the organic certification) and delivered most of their kegs by bike.

Building a brewery in the Plant is a big step up, and it brings some complications. Because of the way they're planning to heat the beer and capture the carbon dioxide from the brewing process, the Evanses need custom-built equipment, which Samuel estimates will make their start-up costs about 25 percent higher than they would be otherwise. "We can't just order inexpensive Chinese equipment from overseas and, 16 weeks later, start making beer—which is a much more simple way of doing it, rather than building everything. We're working with the farm managers here on the design of it, we're working with a lot of our brewer friends, and we're making up a lot of it as we go along, too."

Samuel points out that the kombucha brewery in the building, which is already in production mode, has had issues with the aluminum pipes that capture its carbon dioxide falling apart, apparently in reaction to the gas. "Whenever you're doing something that's new and somewhat untested, you run into a lot of problems like that," he says.

Pete Crowley, who opened Haymarket Pub & Brewery in the former Barney's Market Club last year, says that building a brewery in an old building can complicate matters too. In his case, he had to bring several parts of the building up to code. And the inspection process can be dicey. "Even though there's eight, ten breweries here, there are lots of inspectors that have never seen a brewing tank," Crowley notes. He says his inspector "didn't understand what fermentation was; she was worried about this yeast being in there, and it took a lot of explanation for her to be OK with what we were doing."

But if the brothers are expecting problems to crop up along the way, they're also anticipating an eventual payoff—and not just the feeling-good-about-the-environment kind. Once they're up and running, their production costs will be "insanely lower—like 75 percent lower," Samuel estimates. Some of the ingredients for the beer itself will come from the Plant, too, though the Evanses still will be buying the vast majority. They're planning a fresh hop beer from several varieties they intend to grow along the wall outside the brewery. "The full amount of production hops can't come off of this site," says Jesse. "But when you make beer with those full-leafed cones right after they've been harvested, it's an amazingly different experience."

Beyond that, neither will say much of anything about the exact type of beer they plan to make, except that it won't be anything like what they made in California. "We're starting over completely, taking the opportunity to make the beers that we've always wanted to make," Jesse says.

Besides their own beers, the brothers are planning to devote three barrels in their tasting room to experimental beers made in the New Chicago facility by home brewers and aspiring brewers. If a beer does well they'll bottle and sell it, too. They hope to help launch other breweries in Chicago, a place they believe could sustain a much bigger craft beer market than it currently does. "We want to provide incubation support for nanobreweries. Existing breweries here in Chicago have gone out of their way to give us advice and help us out, so we would like to continue doing that," Jesse says.

Crowley's reaction to the Evanses' brewery supports the brothers' assertion that the local craft brewing scene is a welcoming—and, ideally, growing—one. "Any new brewery in Chicago is great," he says. "We're all excited about the expanding beer scene in the city." 

Miller Coors Brewery in Eden, NC

The MillerCoors brewery in Eden has reached an important milestone this past spring in continuing efforts to improve its sustainability practices.

The facility is now a zero waste to landfill brewery, which means employees aren’t sending any trash to the landfill. The brewery recycles of reuses almost 100 percent of all waste and the remaining trash that cannot be recycled, such as various cafeteria waste and floor sweepings, is sent to a waste energy facility in Virginia.

Drew Lucas, the environmental health and safety representative for Eden’s facility, said they have been working to reduce landfill waste over the past several years. From 2007, over half of landfill waste has been reduced and from 2008-2009, a 15-percent reduction in waste going to the landfill was achieved by the brewery.

“Through education, awareness and consistent training at the brewery, we are using specific work instructions and operational practices to put the tools in place for an effective recycling program,” he said. “We see continued savings from reducing waste generation by increasing our recyclables. Eden is one of four major breweries within MillerCoors to have achieved zero waste to landfill.”

Lucas said the transition toward sustainability wasn’t extremely difficult because they have been committed to this effort for a long time. He said they have recently installed a new aluminum bailing system to make it easier for operation and transportation logistics. The oil from the process is sent to a refinery to be reprocessed into new lubricants and fuels.

“We have also installed a new parts washer machine throughout our maintenance shops that are self-recycling and refreshes the cleaner as we need it,” he said. “This eliminates all the waste cleaner from our maintenance shops.”

Through novel ideas from employees and a collective team across the brewery, Lucas said they’ve implemented many programs throughout the facility which all come together to enable a zero waste to landfill business.

“We’ve long believed that waste is simply a resource out of place and through recycling and reuse, we can become more sustainable,” he said. “And it’s not just waste; we’re dedicated to water conservation, energy conservation, and we’re continuously seeking ways to reduce our materials through sustainable packaging methods.”

Lucas said it also helps that Eden has a sustainable partner and leader in the community dedicated to preserving and minimizing the impact to the environment.

The Eden brewery has several other sustainable projects in the works and one that is ready to roll out in the next couple of months. Lucas said the brewery will be installed a new cardboard baler system to further improve recycling cardboard, which is one of the companies major packaging materials.

“We will continue to focus on better recycling and reusing our materials as well as keep focus on our water savings practices,” he said.

MillerCoors has recently released its annual Sustainable Development Report, which can be found at www.greatbeergreatresponsibility.com. The report shows a number of goals in increasing sustainability including reducing water usage by 15 percent by 2015 to achieve a 3.5 to 1.0 water-to-beer ratio. In 2010, the ratio was 4.1 to 1.

Other goals include reducing total energy use by 15 percent by 2015 and removing all packaging throughout the supply chain by 2 percent.

How sustainable is your beer

How sustainable is your beer?

Do beer drinkers care about the environment?

It may seem like an absurd question. Everywhere you turn these days, consumers are choosing to patronize some companies over others – in industries as varied as financial services, dry cleaning and furniture manufacturing – because of their environmental bona fides. Among beverage makers, archrivals Coke and Pepsi seem to spend as much time bragging about their newfangled earth-friendly bottles than the stuff they put in them.

So why has the environment been a big green blind spot in brewery marketing?

Sure, people already know the Canadian beer industry is a model of recycling efficiency. But it’s also a thirsty water guzzler in the manufacturing process, and notorious for gobbling fuel by trucking large shipments of heavy liquids across vast distances.

This year, a handful of Canadian beer brands seem to have finally clued in to the rest of society’s great environmental awakening. In April, Labatt’s Alexander Keith’s beer unveiled its Keith’s Green Initiative, whereby drinkers who purchased a specially marked case of the brew and then logged on to the brand’s Facebook page could help drive a total of $75,000 in donations to one of four environmental charities.

And next week Molson Canadian will wrap up its Red Leaf Project , a summer-long volunteerism initiative involving shoreline cleanups, tree planting, and the restoration of urban parks across the country.

The Keith’s project was sparked by consumer research, which found drinkers of that brand care more than others about environmental causes. “Cause marketing ranks very high for them,” said Dave Nicholls, the beer’s brand manager. (He declined to share the specific research or the level of passion that drinkers of Labatt’s other beer brands have about the environment. Still, it seems clear from his comments that consumers of, say, the party-oriented Budweiser, whose marketing often involves sending contest winners to hot spots on carbon-spewing airplanes or cruise ships, have other priorities.)

Keith’s drinkers, Mr. Nicholls said, “want to believe in the products they’re choosing, so by being able to tell them in a meaningful way that the beer they choose is reducing their impact on the environment by conserving water year after year, reducing energy usage year after year, by recycling to the level we do year after year – I think that gives them a sense of pride in the product.”

Mr. Nicholls noted that Labatt research had never before turned up a special interest in environmental causes among its customers.

But had the company ever asked them about the issue? “No, we had not,” he acknowledged.

Molson, too, only recently began asking its drinkers about their interest in the environment and other progressive issues that fall broadly under the rubric of “corporate social responsibility.” That may be one reason they were shocked to discover that roughly 50 per cent of respondents said they actively sought out green companies to patronize.

“That’s what gave us the courage to go ahead and create the Molson Canadian Red Leaf Project,” said Jamie Sprules, that beer’s senior brand manager.

In partnership with Tree Canada, the World Wildlife Fund and Evergreen, the brand sponsored the professional planting of 100,000 trees this summer and organized 10 urban park cleanup events across the country. If volunteers’ commitment to the environment wasn’t enough to draw them in for the cleanup days, Molson sweetened the pot with free tickets to local concerts it sponsored, given away to the first 100 people to sign up.

The project helps reinforce the brand’s positioning, unveiled during the Vancouver Olympics last year, as a beverage “Made From Canada” whose fans celebrate this “awesome land.”

Still, it would be a mistake to assume Molson Canadian intends to become an advocate for environmental causes. “Our objective is really to get Canadians thinking about the land in which they live, and what we can do as a group to help make it better,” Mr. Sprules said. “There are lots of brands around the world with different perspectives on the environment. I don’t think we’re trying to be the greenest product out there.”

Labatt, too, is taking a cautious approach before deciding how deeply to embrace the cause. “There’s a lot of weight on the shoulders of the Keith’s team to understand the importance of this,” Mr. Nicholls said, “and getting an understanding of how relevant it is to consumers that their beer is actually involved in green initiatives.”

But while the large breweries want to wait for the market research to come in, a number of small craft brands have already made deep commitments, driven as much by their handmade aesthetic as by admiration for green heroes.

In downtown Toronto, the operations of Steam Whistle Brewing use a host of environmentally friendly services, including the alternative energy provider Bullfrog Power, deep lake water cooling provided by Enwave, steam heating, and a proprietary green bottle of thick glass that can be refilled up to twice as many times as the industry’s standard bottle. In 2007, it began telling customers about these green initiatives. And a few months ago, it introduced a new truck to its vintage fleet, a 1958 Chevy Apache dubbed “Retro Electro,” that had been retrofitted to run on electric power.

“Beer is a badge product,” notes Sybil Taylor, the company’s communications director. “If somebody sees you across a room and you’re holding a particular kind of beer, it speaks about your character. So people are looking for something to represent themselves, and that’s why we think it’s important that we share our environmental story. It’s just one part of our personality, but it’s an important part.”

Some U.S. beer companies are going even further in embracing sustainable practices. In the fall of 2009, a pair of entrepreneurs opened Mother Earth Brewing in Kinston, a city of about 23,000 in eastern North Carolina whose downtown needed some tender loving care. They bought a few city blocks and renovated the existing buildings with a sharp focus on the environment, using a combination of blue jean insulation (which is not just recyclable but also an excellent sound barrier) and soy-based spray foam insulation, installing a six-kilowatt solar array on the roof that provides enough energy to power their tap room, and constructing a cistern that captures rainwater for use in irrigation, toilets, and watering plants.

“I feel like a lot of craft beer drinkers have the same philosophy as us: being outdoor enthusiasts, wanting a quality product,” said Mother Earth’s president Trent Mooring. “These are the type of people that are going to pay more money for a quality product that was made using sustainable practices.”

He added: “It’s like the food movement, where you’re going out to eat at these farm-to-table restaurants versus going to McDonald’s.”

Brewers talk about how to save BTUs while making beverages By Ryan Carpe

I like this whole article. I like Ohio. I like Athens, Ohio. I really like Ohio Brewers. Thank you Ohio. My love works for Great Lakes Brewing. I like GLBC. She has a lovely job. Ever been to Burning River Festival? I like that, too. GLBC - just the original sustainable, superlative brewery.

Brewers on Zero Waste/Athens Ohio's Brew Week.

Ohio brewers and Athens community members shared their thoughts on sustainable energy practices at the Zero Waste Assembly Thursday morning as part of Ohio Brew Week.
The summit was an open discussion about waste reduction for Ohio businesses, and emphasized sustaining globally conscious practices. "It's a great way to partner with the community, and reach out to Ohio businesses," said Kyle O'Keefe, waste-stream development organizer for the Athens County-based non-profit, Rural Action.
Among the featured speakers were O'Keefe; Saul Kliorys, environment programs manager for Great Lakes Brewing Co.; John Najeway, owner of Thirsty Dog Brewing Co.; and local Jackie O's brew-pub owner Art Oestrike.

Former Ohio University official John Kotowski, who vice-chairs Rural Action's board of directors, introduced the members of the panel, which began by quickly offering practical options, such as reusing materials and partnering with surrounding regions.

The Zero Waste Project focuses on eliminating waste by reducing energy use and recycling materials, and teams with local businesses for support. "Small businesses are the engines of local economies. They're the ones that employ and make an impact," O'Keefe said.

Many Ohio breweries such as Akron-based Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. have begun the arduous first steps to making their business greener. They renovated a vacant Akron brewery for their headquarters, and outfitted their brewery pallets and barrels for double-duty. "Adapting, reusing and recycling is what I've done all along in our business model, from recycling to equipment," said Najeway.

Other breweries such as Great Lakes recycle their spent grains and redistribute them to local farms as animal feed. Jackie O's re-uses its beer grains to make their pizza dough, which has become a local favorite. These simple strategies can result in big savings if added up over time, the panelists said.

These investments, speakers noted, are more vital than ever in an economy that isn't always kind to small businesses. And the cost of sustainable practices often force business owners to make tough decisions.

"Going green's not cheap. It's a huge initial investment, and that's one of the main problems," said Najeway.

Contributing to the problem, the panelists cited bloated government regulations and alcohol and licensing fees as slowing fresh-energy strategies. Local businesses must also deal with technology updates and paperwork instead of new green tactics, the panelists said. When business priorities shift to narrowly sustaining a profitable model, conservation efforts often take a back seat. Add to that an uneasy national economy, and the panelists said it's a serious challenge to successfully go green.

But some breweries are thriving in the face of adversity, and many, such as Cleveland-based Great Lakes Brewing Co., have taken the challenge to a new level.

Ohio breweries are finding that sustainable business practices not only result in income reserves, but also bring new globally conscious consumers to your product. Kliorys of Great Lakes explained that customers are clamoring for breweries that go out of their way to go green, citing a recent customer survey that showed patrons were more likely to support Great Lakes because of its sustainable activities.

Oestrike of Jackie O's noted that local conservation strategies generate positive returns for breweries. "A brewery is the center of a community, and becomes a forum for discussion and debate," he said. "The more you're doing these kind of things, the more the community supports you. If you're working with local farms and organizations, then you're getting it (back) at the cash register."

Great Lakes Brewing Company serves as a model for many smaller breweries, Kliorys said. It initiated a green business plan known as the, "Triple Bottom Line," which engages in economic, social and environmental practices that achieve a sustainable yet profitable business.

The brewery accomplishes its initiatives by using a 12-passenger shuttle bus to transport its employees, affectionately named the "Fatty Wagon." The bus runs entirely from oil that comes directly from the Great Lakes restaurant, which is originally used in its kitchen, he said.

According to Kliorys, Great Lakes also co-developed the largest urban farm within Cleveland's city limits, called the Ohio City Farm, which provides healthy local food options to the Cleveland and neighboring communities. The farm consists of nearly six acres, and uses the produce to provide healthy food options to its surrounding communities. The model is a simple, yet effective means to give back to its customers, Kliorys said.

Brewers are also finding that when conservation is a collaborative effort, the work is much more manageable, he added. "The craft brewing world is so fun because we share ideas within our community," Kliorys said. "Everyone works together in the brewing industry."

And as Ohio breweries and businesses strive for conservation, the panelists noted, they often find new friends in the race to sustainability.

The summit, held in OU's Grover Center, was co-sponsored by Ohio Brew Week, Rural Action, the Athens County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the OU College of Health Sciences and Professions and Tech Growth Ohio. Ohio Brew Week ended on Saturday.