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Iron Springs Pub and Brewery |
 After much hard work Iron Springs has now become a Green Certified Business by the Marin County Community Development Agency. We now will continue to strive to operate the most Green friendly Brewpub that we possibly can. Next step-Sustainable Business Certification.
Iron Springs just completed another phase of our goal of reducing our footprint on the world by completing our new lighting retrofit. This energy conservation measure will save 13,345 kwh/yr, 3.210 kw, and reduce the emission of carbon dioxide {co2} into the atmosphere by 6,939 lbs/yr. We continue to seek out and explore new ways of running the most energy efficient, low impact business, that we possibly can.
What does this mean?
Green businesses practice resource efficiency and focus their
operations on limiting their impact on the earth and its resources. A
green business not only conserves resources but also educates employees
and customers abut resource conservation. Some of the green practices
we follow here at the pub are:
* Our to-go containers are made from a corn-base and are
biodegradable. When we can’t use the corn-based containers, we use a
container made from recycled material.
* The brewery process requires the use of large amounts of water.
We do our best to try to limit any waste. As much water as possible is
recycled from brewery operations. We collect all potable water during
the brew process to use during the next day’s brew.
* In the brewery we are always concerned with what we put down the
drain. We consistently monitor the effluent waste from the brewery,
making sure that what goes down our drains is community-friendly for
our municipality’s wastewater treatment center.
* All our spent grain from the brewery process gets picked up by
our team of farmers that is spread out through out the Bay Area. We
have chicken & goat farmers out in Vacaville, we have dairy farmers
outside of Petaluma, and we have our own Vernon Huffman from Sleepy
Hollow who takes a majority for a gigantic composting project on which
he is currently working.
* Our brewery delivery vehicle, the Ambrewlance, is powered by
veggie oil recycled from our fryers.
* We have a full in-house recycling program for paper, plastic,
aluminum, cardboard, and glass. If it’s recyclable, we recycle it!
* We recently had an energy audit performed and they taught us new
methods on how to operate the business during different weather periods
that will help conserve energy. Along with how to conserve and
efficiently use energy during different seasons, we took part in
PG&E's food service energy audit program where we went through all
the pieces of equipment in the kitchen & brewery to look at
different ways to run these areas with as little energy as possible.
Simple ideas such as changing light bulbs out, making sure doors are
shut, putting up cold air curtains have helped us reduce unnecessary
use of energy. We are fascinated with what our friends at Anderson
Valley Brewing are doing with Solar Power. For more information please
click here. Ahhh, one day…
* As part of our goal to run as green a business as possible, we
asked the Marin Municipal Water District to complete a water audit of
our operations. During this we learned which areas of the pub were
already operating using as little water as possible, and where we
needed more work. As a brew pub, we use quite a bit of water, and so
we're always open to ideas as to how we could use less. What we found
with these audits is that common sense & simple approaches on how
we use these finite resources can really help us reduce unnecessary
waste. These are not expensive or complicated procedures. It is just
something we need to be on top of on a daily basis.
Another area where we are putting resources involves what to do if a
some type of disaster would descend on our beautiful Marin. A few of us
at Iron Springs will be taking part this Fall in a C.E.R.T.{Community
Emergency Response Team} course put on by the Corte Madera Fire Dept.
The C.E.R.T. program covers: Introduction to Emergency Preparedness,
Disaster First Aid, Weapons of Mass Destruction and Hazardous
Materials, Light Search and Rescue, Fire Prevention/Suppression, and a
Disaster Simulation. More information on the CERT program can be found
here.
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Water Conservation Program
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When Ray Martin opened the Scoop in 2001, he was the first Bay Area entrepreneur to sell organic ice cream flavored with sustainably sourced and local ingredients, such as on organic ice cream base from Straus organic creamery in Marshall, strawberries from Russ Sartori's farm in Tomales, raspberries from Mt. Barnabe Farms in San Geronimo, lavender and honey grown in West Marin. Fairfax Scoop has gone on to become one of Marin's hottest destinations for ice cream served in cookie-like, waffled cones and cups made fresh, on the premises, also from organic ingredients. A dozen flavors are served at any time; these always include one soy ice cream and one sorbet.
