Whisky (or whiskey) is an absolutely wonderful spirit. This time of year I personally tend to favor a nice rum, saving the whiskey for the cooler months, but I wouldn't turn down a glass of good whiskey if ever it were offered me.
Unfortunately, the distillation process of any alcoholic beverage results in a large amounts of waste (in whiskey speak, that would be the "draff"). But one region of Scotland (which is where all genuine Scotch whiskey comes from, if you didn't know) is getting creative with that draff and is planning on using it to generate clean energy.
WEND says,
According to GOOD, this area of Scotland is “home to half the country’s 100 distilleries,” and it provides tasty whisky to people all over the world. Yes, producing tons of whisky is a great thing! Producing tons of byproduct that goes to waste is not. Unless that secondary product goes to something (dare we say) even better than whisky itself–clean energy.
In 2013, the town of Rothe in the Speyside region will become home to a biomass power plant that will use the grain byproducts of whisky production to produce energy. According to GOOD, the plant is expected to produce enough electricity to power 9,000 homes. This, compared to energy powered by coal, could save 46,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
The moral of the story? We should all be drinking more good scotch so that the Scotish town of Rothe can get their green on. Sure, that sounds reasonable, doesn't it?
[Photo: GreyHobbit/Flickr]
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