Sun powered
We are on a journey towards independently achieved carbon neutrality. Sustainable measures can lower our cost of business, decrease our carbon footprint and reduce our waste. These efforts also benefit our community by creating better habitats and enabling each other to make more sustainable choices.
100% RenewablE ELECTRIC
20% Solar / 80% Wind
Our roof is home to a growing array of 33 solar panels to supply roughly ~20% of our electrical needs and service the balance with wind power which we purchased through energy transfer credits. This naturally reduces our carbon footprint dramatically since we do not receive power from burning fossil fuels.
Big thanks to Pro Lighting & Solar, Paff Electric and the IBEW Local 212 for making this project happen.
Our sales & EVENTS team is electric!
Transportation is major part of our carbon footprint that grows as we grow. To help mitigate the carbon cost of driving vehicles we purchased a standard range Tesla Model 3 for our salesperson and a Ford E-Transit for events and local deliveries. We also have additional reservations for electric commercial vehicles from Canoo and Tesla to help us make deliveries!
FLO EV Charging Stations
To support our vehicles and yours we partnered with Electrada to install and maintain several electric vehicle charging stations in our parking lot. The installation completed during Earth Week 2021. We are happy to provide a new outlet for those adopting electric vehicles to charge their cars and avoid future charging congestion.
Download the FLO app or Chargepoint app to charge and pay.
Native Plant Garden
Ohio-grown Permaculture
Our garden is freshly planted with new life from our partners at Cincinnati Nature Center. This permaculture garden will require less maintenance from staff while looking beautiful year-round.
GEOTHERMAL Hvac
High-efficiency HVAC. Underground.
As one of our first sustainability projects, we installed a geothermal HVAC system in a series of 14, 350-foot deep wells. A geothermal system reduces the amount of energy used to heat and cool air by exchanging the temperature of air above ground with water pumped under ground. These systems pump water through underground wells where the Earth stays at a constant 55 degrees year round. They then circulate that water above ground to a heat exchanger so the HVAC system only has to heat or cool a few more degrees to make everyone cosy!
LOCAL SOURCING
We like to get things from close neighbors when that makes sense for the needs of our business. This works the best with grain, hops, seasonal produce and the occasional proteins. By buying local, we help our neighbors and community keep dollars in local economy.
This also helps us manage our overall carbon footprint by reducing the amount of dinosaur bones burned to ship things from point A to point B. When certifying carbon credits a business normally buys credits for round-trip shipping. They pay twice!
Our top local suppliers:
INSULATION & LED’S
Can you believe The Silverton Memorial Municipal building was not insulated?! Neither could we, so we had R38-equivalent insulation tucked in the new interior walls and ceilings. Next, we replace every single light with LEDs, and added a few new ones for drama. Matt’s dad, Marc, and his company Leesman Lighting were there to help us design our new lights and install the brains to control them.
HighGrain is an official reforestation partner of One Tree Planted; an organization which makes planting new trees simple and inexpensive. Anyone can help plant new trees with their service for as little as $1 per tree! We give back through environmentally focused initiatives which seek to connect, conserve, improve and beautify the environment around us, for our families, friends and communities. Through our partnership with One Tree Planted, we have helped plant over 500 new trees and counting.
We are committed to sustainability and the 513 Green Workplace Certification demonstrates our pledge. This certification promotes businesses in Hamilton County that voluntarily operate in an environmentally responsible manner through sustainable actions. Certification shows you that a business is committed to sustainability across five categories: Sustainable Actions, Waste Diversion, Transportation & Air Quality, Water Conservation and Energy Conservation.
The best way to ensure a more sustainable future is to work together and to commit to projects which demonstrate to our communities. By helping others see that sustainability is something we can achieve we help them make better choices about their own investments. You can help too by joining Green Umbrella or following their projects to help educate and connect our City at all levels of our community.
CARBON NEUTRAL BEER Series
What is 'carbon neutral'? It means we offset the release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels by planting trees. Every product we buy, or make needs to be manufactured, cultivated or shipped by burning fossil fuels.
We designed Northern Exposure, our locally sourced Norwegian Table Ale, to be carbon neutral!
How did we do that?!
We sourced our beer ingredients from local sources as-close-as-possible to our brewery; hops from 6-miles away in Loveland, grain from Marysville, Ohio and a Norwegian yeast shipped from Chicago. Next, our wind power purchase lowers our carbon footprint by taking electric from a clean, renewable source. Then we lowered our energy demand by installing a geothermal HVAC system. Finally, we bought a carbon credit earned from planting trees in the Peruvian rain-forest!
It doesn't stop there! Proceeds will benefit a charity which plants even more trees.
We hope you enjoy this beer, its purpose, and help us push our carbon footprint negative.