CO2 Emissions from Asheville’s Craft Brewing Industry

Evan Couzo,Metis Meloche,Jacob Taylor

doi:10.5539/jsd.v12n5p131

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between two foundational identities of Asheville, North Carolina &mdash; its environmentally mindful community and the craft brewing industry. We quantified CO2 emissions from the fermentation process of brewing beer at several local breweries in Asheville. Additionally, this project determined whether emissions from fermentation were substantial compared to CO2 emissions from the breweries&rsquo; electricity usage. We analyzed data from four breweries of varying size. Our results showed that the emissions from fermentation were small compared to emissions from electricity usage. Total CO2 emissions from electricity usage from all four breweries were slightly less than 180,000 tonnes compared to just over 600 tonnes from the fermentation process. Emissions from fermentation were less than 0.5% of emissions from electricity usage at all four breweries. While 600 tonnes of CO2 may not seem substantial, this study was limited to just four of the more than 35 breweries in Asheville as of 2016. Given the size and rate of growth of the craft brewing industry in the region, it is too soon to dismiss fermentation emissions as unimportant to Asheville&rsquo;s total carbon footprint.

Highlights

It is well known that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have steadily increased since the start of the Industrial Revolution
Based on the information reported by the four breweries that participated, two estimates of CO2 emissions were calculated for each brewery
The first was from the fermentation process and was found by deriving CO2 emissions from a given beer’s ABV and production volume

Summary

Introduction

It is well known that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have steadily increased since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary GHG emitted through human activities and accounts for the vast majority of all GHG emissions from anthropogenic sources in the United States (US EPA, 2019). In order to reduce CO2 emissions, it is necessary to first quantify those emissions. One method of estimating GHG emissions from a region is by calculating a carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is a measurement of total greenhouse gas emissions. It is a quantitative estimate that assesses direct and indirect sources of pollution, GHG emissions from stationary and mobile sources, emissions from physical and chemical processing, as well as indirect sources of electricity (Al-Mansour and Jejcic, 2017; Institute for Local Government, 2009)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion