You might not look at the aggressive gargoyle logo and think Stone Brewing Co. concerns itself with its impact on the environment.
But don’t be so quick to judge the brew by its bottle. In truth, Stone Brewing Co. and the planet make a perfect match in “green” brewery heaven.
In fact, when searching for my 2009 Sustainability Award recipient for today’s 19th Annual E.A.R.T.H. Awards, the Escondido establishment immediately came to mind.
San Diego County supervisor Pam Slater-Price.
In 2008, the brewing company completed two very large undertakings that made them the “eco” darlings of San Diego.
First, the business installed a $3.2 million rooftop solar system comprised of 1,561 Photovoltaic panels. Do yourself a favor and check out a photo of the Stone roof - it’s really quite an impressive sight.
That project, unveiled last June, cut the facility’s total electrical power by about 40 percent. And with that amount of clean energy, it could reduce carbon emissions by more than 583,000 pounds over its lifetime. That’s like planting roughly 200 acres of trees.
Second, Stone installed an on-site wastewater treatment facility in August. Why? Because they produce a lot of wastewater making all that beer and it’s gotta go somewhere.
Installing an $850,000 treatment facility eliminated the need to truck 40,000 gallons of wastewater to San Diego each month. Plus, it cut out 25,000 gallons of daily wastewater from the Escondido municipal wastewater treatment plant system.
And they haven’t stopped there. Stone applied for a filtration system permit in the hopes of using recycled water from the treatment facility to irrigate the brewery’s landscaping.
These are huge steps taken in just one year.
And that’s in addition to their ongoing support of locally and organically grown produce, and many other carefully selected menu items with quality, natural offerings in mind.
It’s a thrill to have such an environmentally-minded business in North County. I tip my hat to Stone Brewing co-founders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner for leading the charge in eco-friendly brewing through sustainable design.
And for any business owners out there thinking about changing the way they do business to help the planet, check out the County of San Diego’s “Green Building Program.”
The rest of us can do our part by supporting local “green” businesses in the hopes that more will sprout up.
Vice Chairwoman Pam Slater-Price represents the County of San Diego’s Third District. Follow her at www.twitter.com/PamSlaterPrice.
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