Scottish whisky business reveals eco-friendly efforts for the benefits of industry and the planet
CHIVAS Brothers, the Scotch whisky business of Pernod Ricard, has made its enhanced heat recovery tools open source for the whisky industry in a bid to cut emissions.
The move comes after the firm found that the use of the technology showed “significant benefit in carbon emissions reduction”, which would help the whisky industry at large if adopted at other distillation sites.
The heat recovery technology – including Mechanical Vapour Recompression and Thermo Vapour Recompression – is designed to capture and recycle heat generated in the distillation process.
Chivas Brothers said this tech has helped the business to cut its total energy consumption almost by a half (48%) at its Glentauchers distillery in Speyside, reducing the site’s carbon emissions by 53%.
Should the tech be adopted by the wider whisky industry, Chivas Brothers said it would save 1,756 gigawatt hours per year.
That is enough to power 605,000 homes a year, more than the number of houses in Edinburgh and Aberdeen combined.
Jean-Etienne Gourgues, chairman and chief executive at Chivas Brothers, said: “Findings with such significant impact must be shared; this technology has the potential to transform our industry and accelerate its progress to net zero.
“That’s why we’re making our design process and implementation learning available to all.”
