InchDairne, has announced that it has received government
backing, for the next steps in achieving its goal of being a net zero carbon
distillery.
Last year the UK Government Department for Business, Energy
and Industrial Strategy, asked for proposals as part of a competition to study
the use of alternative fuels in the UK distilling industry. The Fife based distillery’s
proposal was selected as one of the best and they have now received funding for a feasibility
study.
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| InchDairne Distillery Founder Ian Palmer |
The feasibility study will look at generating hydrogen at the distillery and using this gas to displace natural gas in the distillery’s steam boiler. Generating on-site hydrogen will need electricity and the study will look at using electricity generated by Photo Voltaic (PV) cells mounted on the warehouse roofs.
This latest news follows on from last year’s publication of
the distillery’s carbon footprint report, which will be reworked and used to
demonstrate the net effect of the various hydrogen options on InchDairnie’s
carbon footprint. The published output from this work will contribute to the
further development of the Scotch Whisky Association’s Environmental Strategy.
The work is aimed at making a real improvement to the
distillery’s sustainability, as opposed to just offsetting some of its carbon
generation by purchasing carbon credits or similar. The distillery is already
very energy efficient, so this technology is seen as a real opportunity to make
the next big step in achieving net zero carbon.
Commenting on the news, Ian Palmer, Founder of InchDairnie Distillery, said: "Today’s consumers are being critical of bland marketing led sustainability statements and are they are looking underneath these statements for real change. Tomorrow’s consumers will be even more critical and this project is all about making significant and demonstrable change in our carbon foot print. It’s a big step which can only be achieved by being innovative and changeling the status quo."
The InchDairnie Distillery, which opened in 2016, is expected to release its first single malt Scotch
whisky in 2029.
Posted by Steve Rush