Vernon Brewery Recognized for Clean Energy Efforts

BC Hydro recently recognized the brewery’s efforts with its Clean Energy Champion Award. The award includes an online profile of the brewery’s efforts and a video celebrating the team’s work.

Led by Chris Dougherty, Senior Project Manager, the brewery has created a nine-person energy team that looks for efficiencies and opportunities across the plant. Chris worked closely with BC Hydro, making the most of incentives and advice from the utility provider.

“Participating in the Strategic Energy Management program sparked a cultural shift at Okanagan Spring,” says Chris. “The support and excitement from our team have been incredible, and it's now the backbone of our energy reduction efforts. I can't thank BC Hydro enough for their continued support."

Some of the brewery’s most notable efforts include:

• two major lighting retrofit projects

• a waste heat recovery vaporizer project

• a compressed air leak campaign that discovered 76 leaks and 10 improvements

Since May 2023, the team has achieved 751,000kWh in energy savings, enough to power 62 single family homes per year in BC.

The brewery is exploring options for its next projects, which includes finding ways to shift energy use to off-peak times.

Sleeman Breweries’ parent company, Sapporo, solidified their commitment to environmental efforts in 2019. Sapporo's Environmental Vision 2050 aims for decarbonization, energy savings, and renewable energy use. Okanagan Spring is positioning itself as a leader in these efforts.

“Sapporo is setting greenhouse gas reduction targets, and we want to lead the way,” says Chris. “We see what’s happening with climate action, and we want to get ahead of the curve. I believe we’re energy champions, thanks in part to BC Hydro’s support.”

With a great track record so far and exciting projects on the horizon, the team at OSB is looking forward to a greener and more energy efficient future.