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WELLESLEY, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — With beer consumption at an all-time high for the Super Bowl, a local effort between Wellesley based company Vanguard Renewables, breweries, and dairy farms has resulted in a way to turn beer waste into renewable energy.
"On Super Bowl Sunday, Americans will drink 325 million gallons of beer," said Vanguard Renewables Founder and Chief Strategy Officer John Hanselman.
"We take the old, expired beer that doesn't get consumed this weekend, but we also take all the things that get leftover when they're making the beer," Hanselman said.
According to Vanguard Renewables, remaining grain and yeast from breweries are put into million gallon tanks at dairy farms, a process that results in the creation of renewable natural gas after thirty days. That gas can then be used to light and heat houses and is part of a circular solution in the fight against climate change, Hanselman said.
Vanguard Renewables was founded in 2014 by Hanselman and Chief Development Officer Kevin Chase with the goal to produce renewable energy from organic waste, powering homes, businesses, and communities while ensuring a long lifespan for local farms.
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Hanselman said that the process starts with food waste being taken to farms and combining it with their manure, after which renewable natural gas and organic fertilizer are created. The farmer then takes the fertilizer, and grows food to send back to the consumer, Hanselman said.
WBZ's Suzanne Sausville (@wbzSausville) reports.
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