As Earth Day 2012 passed we thought this may be a good time to let you know that we at Lewis & Clark Brewing are absolutely concerned about the environment and our impact on our planet. This was one of the primary reasons we switched from bottling our beer to cans, as cans are much easier and more likely to be recycled. Obviously one of greenest ways to enjoy our fresh craft beer is through the use of our 64oz. Glass Growlers which can be refilled at the Tap Room.
Beyond the packaging of our beer we spent considerable time studying and implementing ways we could save energy and resources during the construction/renovation of our new location. For those interested here are a few of things we did to accomplish that goal. We were fortunate enough to find lots of materials during the renovations of this historical location that we could repurpose/reuse in our new Tap Room. For example we had to replace a significant section of the roof as it was deemed unsafe for our new use. We used many of the beams we had to tear out as beer rails and table surfaces throughout the Tap Room, these old beams may have been done with their work of holding up the roof but are still in great shape to hold up beers (plus they are beautiful). We will be creating many more tables with these salvaged beams over the next several months as we continue to bring our dream into focus.
We were also lucky enough to find an enormous amount of old steel diamond plate that was used as floor protection during the 70 years our new home was operated by the Columbia Paint Company. We utilized this steel plating as the face of our tap room bar as it provides great strength and a pretty cool look as well.
Our HVAC system is a radical departure from your standard big box on the roof system found in most large buildings. Designed by my brother RAN Pigman from Pigman Builders this system features many green concepts such as: Solar powered and passive gravity louvered exhaust fans on the roof.
High efficient infrared radiant heaters We replaced/supplemented the older less efficient boiler (which now only comes on when the temps are below zero) with a new Super High Efficient model that generates all the hot water that flows through our heating system.
The new boiler is barely 1/4 the size of the old one, twice as efficient and purrs like a kitten. This is complemented by passive solar heat gain from our beautiful celestory by capturing heat in the winter and redistributing it with fans, then switching to exhaust heat in the summer to help the building stay cool.
you know is a large part of the year especially at night) and uses this outside air to cool, shutting down the large cooling compressors and saving energy.
The infamous tongue and fan in the game room is much more than just a piece of modern art. It actually is a critical part of the HVAC design. It receives a signal from one of the several CO2 sensors throughout the building, then brings in the fresh air required as the crowd grows. The most common question is about the copper pipes. They are designed to pre-temper the cold air coming in during winter months as they have hot water flowing through them and the tongue is there to catch any condensation created and drain to the mason jar below. The stud actually was needed to fasten the tongue to the fan and we just thought a stud looked better than a bolt.
All of these efforts (and many more that to come) have already helped us reduce our annual heating and cooling costs by almost 50%. So not only is is good for the planet it’s good for business. We have lots more plans to integrate green concepts in the future including wind power, more solar panels and a complete rain water capture system to be used to water our lawn and hop gardens. Cheers to Mother Earth and great beer!
