Vermont Coffee Company announces 100% renewable biogas-powered coffee roastery

By Rachel Arthur

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Sustainability Coffee

Vermont Coffee Company launches 100% renewable biogas-powered coffee roastery
Vermont Coffee Company has started using 100% renewable biogas to roast its coffee, with thermal and electric energy sourced from renewable methane.

The organic coffee company says it is the first US coffee roaster to achieve this goal, that has taken a long time to achieve.

Paul Ralston, founder and CEO, said: "Renewable electricity was the easy part. The real challenge was getting a renewable thermal energy source to replace propane." 

Methane is the input for both forms of renewable energy. Anaerobic digesters operated by Addison County dairy farms extract methane gas from cow manure and convert it into electricity. Known as ‘Cow Power’, this renewable energy source is delivered by Green Mountain Power.

 The source for the company's renewable biogas is methane recovered from a Quebec-based engineered landfill operated by EBI Énergie Inc. and delivered by Vermont Gas Company.

Vermont Coffee Company had previously made a multi-year investment in energy efficiency, having reduced the amount of fuel used to roast coffee by 70%. It did this by using new roasting technology and modifying the roasting process.

Ralston said that while the company made a large investment to upgrade roasters, the increased efficiency has made the higher cost of renewable energy less significant.

Related news

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars