MBAA DISTRICT TEXAS
“2008” Summer Conference
July 25-27
Inn of the Hills River Resort
Kerrville, Texas

Technical Session Presenters:

Dr. Lynn Katz, PhD. Department of Civil Engineering, UT Austin
Title: “Water, water everywhere but it’s better in the beer”

Abstract: Water is one of the key ingredients in beer comprising more than 90% of the final product. Thus, the quality of a beer is highly dependent on the quality of the water from which it is derived. The water chemistry of beer is well known to most brewers, as are many of the health effects of beer. However, few papers have stressed the link between the chemistry and composition of beer and its potential health benefits. This talk provides an overview of water quality issues that relate to the production of beer and its impact on human health from an historical and contemporary perspective.

Bio: Lynn E. Katz is a Professor of Engineering and John A. Focht Teaching Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. She received a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University, Masters' degrees in Chemistry and in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining the Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering faculty at the University of Texas, she was an Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maine. Dr. Katz has over twenty years of experience studying water quality and examining the fate and transport of contaminants in the environment. Her research has involved both fundamental and applied research in this field and has included the development of in-situ remediation and ex-situ treatment processes for contaminated water. Dr. Katz also served as board member and treasurer for the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) and is now serving as chair of the AEESP Foundation. She also serves on the executive committee of the Geochemistry Division of the American Chemical Society.

Rick Davis, MBA, JD. EH Vice President of Sales, EPS Corp Austin.
Title: “Brewing a Sustainable Future: the financial upside of reducing carbon emissions and energy inefficiency in the brewing industry”

Abstract: Sixty-one percent of global executives recently surveyed by McKinsey & Co. expect the issues associated with climate change to boost profits — if managed well. Eighty-two percent of those same executives expect some form of climate change regulation within five years. While new regulations typically equate to higher costs, what these executives recognize about climate change regulation is that sustainability should not constitute an additional cost but rather an opportunity to identify and eliminate inefficiencies in the production process. Breweries, in particular, possess a vast array of options to lower operating expenses, including leveraging costly wastewater from the production process to generate free, renewable onsite electricity and identifying and removing energy inefficiencies (and resulting greenhouse gas pollutants) in the sub-systems of plant environments. Breweries of all sizes should take a proactive approach to sustainability and capture the financial benefits before public regulatory authorities or private gate-keepers in the distribution chain (such as Wal-Mart) force breweries into a reactive mode that results in the rushed implementation of suboptimal solutions.

Bio: Rick Davis is the EH Vice President of Sales for eps corp. He has a long professional history of business development and corporate strategy extending across a variety of industries and companies of all sizes. Rick has a JD from the University of Texas School of Law, an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, and a BA with honors from Rice University. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and daughter.