Wednesday 21 May 2014

Whisky makers raise a green glass to efficiency

Whisky makers were offered £5 million to cut their carbon emissions by the UK’s green lending bank today.

Aberfeldy distillery in Perthshire bagged some of the cash to replace old boilers with energy efficient ones, meant to cut its carbon emissions by 90%.

Biomass boilers will elbow out existing heavy fuel oil boilers to produce the steam used in several parts of the whisky making process. Opened in 1898, Aberfeldy makes up the largest malt whisky part of Dewar's Blended Scotch Whisky.

It’s the distillery owner Bacardi’s second investment in biomass for power in the UK.

Stuart Lowthian, Global Technical Director of Bacardi said: “The first was in our Bombay Sapphire gin distillery at Laverstoke Mill and we will be following up with a similar biomass investment in our tequila distillery in Mexico later this year.”

Rob Cormie, Group Operations Director for the UK Green Investment Bank which is funding half of the project said: “I would encourage other distilleries to install a biomass boiler or other energy saving technology – an investment to make long term savings and to help to meet the industry’s ambitious green targets.”

He said the ‘spend to save’ model means companies don’t need to find money up-front.