NPR drinks up New Belgium Brewery's energy policy in pre-debate Fort Collins series

In the build-up to tonight's presidential debate in Colorado, the folks at National Public Radio have been focusing on Fort Collins. The final part of the series, which aired today, focuses on energy policy...and also brewskis, since a significant portion of the segment features New Belgium Brewery's efforts to combine...

By Michael Roberts

October 3, 2012

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In the build-up to tonight's presidential debate in Colorado, the folks at National Public Radio have been focusing on Fort Collins. The final part of the series, which aired today, focuses on energy policy...and also brewskis, since a significant portion of the segment features New Belgium Brewery's efforts to combine suds and sustainability.

New Belgium's Jenn Vervier, the director of sustainability for the firm, is the main spokesperson for New Belgium's efforts to use energy as efficiently as possible -- by, for example, only making ice at night, since it's colder then, and processing wastewater to produce methane gas used to generate electricity.

Also of note are solar panels that account for about 15 percent of the electricity New Belgium uses. They were purchased using grants from federal stimulus legislation.

If that sounds too pro-Obama (or pro-George W. Bush), there's some balance in the piece: Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is heard speaking in Larimer County -- and mentioning the word "renewables."

Here's the segment.

More from our Media archive: "NPR puts Fort Collins in the presidential debate spotlight."

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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