It cuts a pub's average energy use by 90%, saves landlords around 12,000 pints of water a year and delivers the perfect pint at the perfect temperature every time. SmartDispense, the first green draught cooling system, is helping publicans save money, pour their customers a better pint and become more sustainable at the same time.
Heineken developed SmartDispense in response to two issues.
Most pubs and bars use draught cooling systems to deliver chilled beer from the publican's cellar to the customer's glass. But they are notoriously wasteful. Research suggests that over 90% of the energy used to maintain the temperature in a pub's cellar is wasted.
On top of that, landlords need to maintain the cooling systems by cleaning their beer lines every week. The weekly clean and a lack of expertise among publicans means that, on average, 75% of the water, cleaning chemicals and beer used during the cleaning process is wasted.
SmartDispense reduces or removes the need for cellar cooling by chilling the beer as it leaves the keg, rather than chilling the surrounding environment.
The system has two main benefits. First, it reduces the need to clean beer lines from once a week to once every four weeks. Given that Heineken includes professional line cleaning as part of the service offered with the system, it takes the responsibility away from the landlord altogether. That saves the average pub around 12,000 pints of water, 90 pints of cleaning chemical and £2,300 of product waste every year. It also gives landlords more time to do other useful work around their pubs.
Secondly, SmartDispense reduces a pub's average energy use by 90%. This saving comes from reducing or removing the need for cellar cooling along with the use of R290 coolers, which average out as 20% more energy efficient than the industry standard. The cooler units also have a lower greenhouse warming potential: 3GWP compared with the industry standard cooler, which has a GWP (global warming potential) of 1300.
Years of engineering innovation and investment went into tackling the problems associated with cellar cooling. To develop the system Heineken brought together a number of UK experts in draught cooling and insulation, tasking them to come up with a product that would resolve the waste issue while giving consumers a consistent and high quality pint.
Following a successful trial in 2012, the brewer recruited a team of six specialists in draught dispensing to support its sales team in getting SmartDispense to customers nationwide. Since its introduction in 2013, over 700 publicans have introduced the system into pubs, hotels and restaurants across the UK.
It is all part of Heineken's ambition to be the world's greenest brewer. Part of the company's commitment is to make as little environmental impact as possible through its supply chain, from grain to glass. This includes reducing waste wherever possible. SmartDispense is helping Heineken achieve this goal by reducing waste while giving its customers incentives to grow their businesses in a sustainable way.
Lorna Thorpe is part of the wordworks network
The Guardian Sustainable Business Sustainability Case Studies contain articles on all the initiatives that met the criteria for the GSB Awards.
