Carbon capturing — a technology in which carbon dioxide is captured, purified and stored as a liquid for reuse in various applications — is trending, especially in the fossil fuels industry, and some wineries are beginning to utilize the technology.
Trefethen Family Vineyards, a family-owned estate winery in Napa Valley recently announced that it is participating in a pilot project with Earthly Labs focused on capturing carbon dioxide emitted from the winery’s fermentation.
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Earthly Labs’ approach to carbon capture expands its current “CiCi” platform by adding new ways to process and scrub CO2 in a winery setting.
The CiCi system is the size of a large refrigerator and was installed alongside the Trefethen fermentation tanks. The CO2 exchange program allows companies to capture and sell waste CO2 to create value.
The CiCi system was first made available to the small craft brewing segment.
“New climate solutions are needed urgently, but they only work when leaders like Trefethen are willing to pioneer new innovations,” said Earthly Labs CEO Amy George said. “We are thrilled to partner with Trefethen to advance climate science and showcase what one winery can do to inspire others.”
The move is consistent with Trefethen’s current sustainability efforts. The winery is certified Napa Green, Certified California Sustainable and a member of the Porto Protocol, a global consortium of wineries focused on climate change.
Trefethen’s leaders said it is the first winery to install the new technology for this year’s harvest and is hoping it will prove effective as a strategy for carbon footprint reduction, noting that the carbon dioxide that’s captured in the process affects the atmosphere the same way carbon dioxide by-products from fossil fuels do.
“This is a natural extension of our commitment to land stewardship and environmental responsibility,” Hailey Trefethen, who leads sustainability programs for her family’s winery, said in a press release. “This is a natural extension of our commitment to land stewardship and environmental responsibility.
“With this technology, we are gaining ground in reducing global emissions and the related impacts of climate change. We are making great strides this harvest season and hope the practice will be widely adopted in the future.”
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