Presenter: Jeff C. VanVoorhis, Symbiont Science, Engineering
and Construction, Inc., Milwaukee, WI
The number of breweries in the United States is at the
highest level since prohibition ended in 1933. Craft brewing
is the fastest growing market segment of the U.S. alcoholic
beverage industry, according to data gathered by the Brewers
Association. Annually, breweries in the United States spend
over $200 million on energy. Total energy expenditures for
malt beverages account for 56% of expenditures. Energy
consumption is equal to 3–8% of the production costs of beer,
making energy efficiency improvement an important way to
reduce costs, especially in times of high energy price volatility.
Uncertain energy prices in today’s marketplace negatively
affect predictable earnings, a concern for companies in the beer
industry. For public and private companies alike, increasing
energy prices are driving up costs and decreasing their value
added. Successful, cost-effective investment into energy
efficiency technologies such as waste-to-energy meets the
challenge of maintaining the output of a high-quality product.
Energy efficiency is an important component of a company’s
environmental strategy, as well. End-of-pipe solutions can be
expensive and inefficient, while energy efficiency can often
be an inexpensive opportunity to reduce pollutant emissions.
Energy efficiency can be an effective strategy to work toward
the “triple bottom line” that focuses on the social, economic,
and environmental aspects of a business. Waste-to-energy is
a cost-effective way to reduce energy consumption within
a short payback period and accrue other benefits, such as
reducing carbon dioxide emissions, reducing waste, and saving
water. Creating energy from waste materials of the brewing
process is important for breweries that are concerned with
changing regulations. Today and in the future it will become
very difficult for the brewing industry to dispose of its waste
materials. Due to new regulations and higher standards for
waste treatment, producers are being forced to find new
methods of cost-neutral discharge of their biological waste
that also meet regulatory requirements. This presentation
will examine energy efficiency opportunities available to
breweries using waste-to-energy technologies and financing to
implement projects that result in an aggressive payback. We
will explore anaerobic wastewater treatment, an alternative
method for treating industrial wastewater that converts organic
compounds in the wastewater into a renewable biogas that can
be used to create energy on site. We will also explore several
breweries that are using this technology and the positive return
on investment. If return on investment is the primary barrier to
realizing all the benefits of waste-to-energy projects, then one
must consider the financial benefit of tax credits associated with
energy recovery, as such credits will have a significant impact
on project payback. We will explore financial aspects of these
projects, including cumulative incentives, grants, loans, tax
credits, and private equity. Mezzanine and traditional financing,
other loan programs, negotiated incentives, and tax credit
programs will also be discussed.
Jeff VanVoorhis has been a member of MBAA for more than five
years and has contributed to the organization as a presenter
on various brewing technology topics. Jeff is a senior project
manager at Symbiont, who, since 1995, has specialized in industrial
wastewater treatment, waste minimization, and renewable
energy. Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from
Purdue University and an MBA from Marquette University. Jeff
has served as a project manager on numerous industrial wastewater
projects that have total construction costs exceeding $100
million. During the past year, Jeff has been integrally involved
in the design of wastewater energy production and recovery for
two regional waste-to-energy designs in the state of Wisconsin,
which produce 2 and 3.2 MW of green electric energy. He also
has served as lead design engineer on comprehensive studies
for energy use at digestion facilities for numerous industrial
wastewater plants.
