Sustainability
Sustainability The YH Way
At Young Henrys, we're mindful of our impact on the planet and those who call it home
For us to keep the good times, good gigs and good beers flowing well into the future, we're embracing more sustainable ways of operating.
Welcome to The Algae Project: Beer Positive
We're using algae to lower our emissions and create a more sustainable future for both brewing and livestock industries, together with our partners at UTS Science.
The year is 2019…and the Young Henrys brewery is glowing green from the light of a bioreactor, teeming with microscopic algae, installed amongst the tanks. It may look like something from a sci-fi movie, but these fluoro tanks represent our commitment to the future in the fight against climate change. CO2 is a major byproduct of the brewing process. For reference, the fermentation of just one six pack of beer would take a tree two full days to absorb!
Since, we've continued to work with the supremely talented scientists at the University of Technology Sydney's Climate Change Cluster (C3) to lead the way in making brewing a more carbon neutral process. So far the research has proved that utilising algae could make a huge difference to not only brewing, but to climate change as a whole by consuming CO2 and releasing oxygen.
Why Algae?
Let's rewind a bit… Algae is a natural feature of our environment and forms a very important part of all aquatic food webs and ecosystems. There are two main types of algae; macroalgae, which consists of kelps and seaweeds, and microalgae, which are tiny, microscopic plants that can grow both in fresh and saltwater. The current research into algae reveals that it can pretty much save the world. The photosynthesis effectiveness is so strong that algae actually produces more than 50% of the world's oxygen - that's every second breath you take being powered by the likes of kelp, spirulina and nori.
In addition, the algae that is grown from sucking up all that CO2 can go on to have another life, and be used in a bunch of products like food or even bio-plastics. For a little bit of added context here: The 400 litre bioreactor installed in our Newtown brewery produces as much oxygen as one hectare of Australian forest, with each millilitre containing roughly 5 million microalgae cells – or individual organisms.
Our Commitment
We believe the planet matters. With the devastating impact to bushland from the ongoing bushfires, and questions arising over how we can help safeguard Australia for future years, we reckon this research comes at an important time. Since launching in 2012, we have aimed to be an industry leader when it comes to sustainability. Every step in our brewing process is operated by the most sustainable means possible - and this initiative is a prime example.
As a business, we believe that the private and public sector can lead the way in enacting change within society to reverse our impact on climate change. We feel as an independently owned Australian company, we need to do our bit and hopefully set a good example.
Renewable Energy
Our Newtown brewery and distillery is now 100% powered through renewable energy sources, thanks to our green energy projects, incredible community investors and good mates at Pingala Co-op.
Through a combination of our own rooftop solar systems, an industry agreement, and purchased renewables, 100% of our power needs for our entire Newtown site are met by renewable energy sources.
How We Power Our Brewery
Our solar systems were funded via community-investment with our mates at Pingala Cooperative. Pingala is a climate-focused, subscription-based organisation which offers members the opportunity to invest in sustainable business solutions in their local communities. In partnership with Pingala, we installed a 30kW solar system on top of our brewery in 2016, raising $17,500 in 9 minutes by raffling off shares to punters from far and wide. This first system allowed us to run a third of the brewery's power through the sun.
After reaching out to our mates via our mailing list to offer the same community-driven initiative, we were overwhelmed with the response, receiving over $60K worth of pledges in 48 hours! Working once again with Pingala, we were able to install our second system. In addition to our solar systems, we're proud members of the ENGIE Power Purchase Agreement which was set up in 2019 to aggregate the energy needs of eligible Australian Hotels Association members, and to underwrite large-scale investments in solar energy.
Finally, through ENGIE we're buying the remaining of our Newtown site's energy from independently accredited, renewable energy sources known as GreenPower. By doing so, we're not only brewing and serving our beers with the help of renewable energy, but supporting new renewable energy generation in Australia.
The Brewery
Since opening our doors in 2012, we've always tried to operate by the most sustainable means possible - from our re-usable growlers, to re-purposing our spent grain.
Spent Grain
At the very start of the brewing process, the major by-product is spent grain. Since our very first brew, we donate 100% of the spent grain to local farms where it's eaten by some very happy cattle. In 10 years of operating this way, it always made perfect sense to close that loop. It was only when we received a personal note of thanks from Graham the farmer we truly realised what a difference the grain makes in years of drought.
Saving Water
We're working hard at our brewery to reduce, reuse and recycle the water we use to make your favourite YH brews. We're one of four breweries in Australia using a mash filtering system that sees us compressing our grain rather than rinsing it - reducing our water usage by 40%. We also capture and reuse water used in heating/cooling during the brewing process for cleaning purposes, and in partnership with the legends at Sydney Water, we've designed a trade waste system that neutralises our wastewater to lower the BOD (biological oxygen demand).
Our Energy
With the help of community-investment through our mates at Pingala Cooperative, we've installed two solar farms atop our Newtown brewery. In addition to the ENGIE Power Purchase Agreement - set up in 2019, and our ongoing purchasing of independently accredited, renewable energy through the team at ENGIE - 100% of our electricity needs for our Newtown site are generated through renewable energy sources.
Algae Tanks
In partnership with UTS Science, we're aiming to make brewing a more carbon neutral process with our Algae Project. Working with the scientists from the University's Climate Change Cluster (C3), we developed a method of using CO2, which is a by-product of the brewing process, to feed algae housed in bioreactors on our brew floor who in turn release oxygen. The project is reducing our emissions as a business and playing an important part in both climate change research and industry change.
Packaging
We give a lot of thought to the vessels we use. For packaged products, we've always favoured the humble tinnie and in 2016, we made the switch to use majority tinnies for our core range products. Aluminium cans are light-weight, and due to their uniform shape are far more efficient to stack, trucking 25% more beer on every pallet. They are also infinitely recyclable, chill faster and protect beer from faults far better than glass bottles. Kind of like a miniature keg.
For kegs themselves, we are proud to use Konvoy. The keg leasing program helps to reduce emissions, as shared kegs are better utilised across the country, travelling one way to customers before going back into use in local breweries instead of being freighted back empty. In this big country of ours, it makes a lot of sense.