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Going carbon neutral was the challenge accepted by 30 win-eries in Oregon’s WillametteValley.Thewineindustrywas

the first in Oregon to respond to House Bill3543,signedintolawAug.6,2007,bythen-Gov. Ted Kulongoski. The legisla-tion set ambitious goals: a)By2010,arrestthegrowthofOregon’sgreenhouse gas emissions and begin to reduce those emissions;b) By2020,achievegreenhousegaslev-els that are 10% below 1990 levels;c)By2050,achievegreenhousegaslevels that are at least 75% below 1990 levels.

In April 2010, 14 of 30 wineries declared partial victory by announcing that they had “completed a rigorous process to measure and reduce greenhouse gases.” Nooneactuallyachievedcarbonneutral-

ity. It turned out to be virtually impos-sible to assess, let alone achieve.

“There was not a good system of metrics to count things of significance such as airline travel and shipping,” says Chehalem winery founder, HarryPeterson-Nedry. Winemaker/daughterWynne Peterson-Nedry notes that shesees ongoing improvements with how travel and shipping metrics are defined.

Carbon Reduction Challenge (CRC)The Carbon Neutral Challenge (CNC),now regarded as the pilot program, becametheCarbonReductionChallenge(CRC) administered by Low InputViticulture & Enology Inc. (LIVE). Formore information, visit crchallenge.org.

“We replaced ‘neutral’ with ‘reduc-tion’ because the latter focuses on the ongoing and iterative, short- and long-

term process of energy reductions within the control of the business,” explains MicheleMartin,CRCprogrammanager.“Also, ‘neutral’ can refer to the purchase of carbon offsets and RECs (RenewableEnergyCertificates),whicharenolongera requirement of the program.”

Once the Oregon Department ofAgriculture (ODA) verifies that amem-ber has achieved a 5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, it is certi-

How green is Willamette Valley?

BY Neal D. Hulkower

CARBON REDUCTION CHALLENGE

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fied. “ODA is a third-party inspector,”Martinexplains.“CRCprovidesthecer-tification based on the outcome of the inspection. Forwineries inWashingtonstate, CRC works with LIVE’s experi-enced Washington-based vineyard andwinery inspector contractor to inspect those locations.”

Within one year of becoming a CRCmember, a winery is required to file a Carbon Reduction Plan that can beupdated annually. A template is pro-videdatcrchallenge.org/resources/.Theplan includes a mission statement, six yearly goals and a checklist of organi-zational strategy practices for wineries to choose from. These practices address energy leadership, records maintenance, staff engagement and consumer educa-tion and outreach.

There are checklists for activities associated with three scopes defined as follows:Scope 1 includes emissions over which a company has direct control via owner-ship of activities;Scope 2 is purchased electricity, heat or steam;Scope 3 involves all indirect emissions that occur as a result of facility or business activities that use goods or resources with potential greenhouse

gasemissions(crchallenge.org/about/faqs/#Q8).

Scope 1-related activities selected by the members who shared their plans include performing a solar audit (purchasing car-bonoffsetsandRECsarenotconsideredenergy-reduction activities and are not counted as such, according to Martin) and addressing vehicle emissions.

Having an energy audit performed by a consultant, addressing lighting, installing programmable thermostats and insulating glycol lines and tanks are commonly cited Scope 2-related actions. Scope 3-related options include chang-ing to lightweight bottles and tracking employee business travel.

Michael Brown, the director of salesandmarketingatSokolBlosserWineryinDundee, Ore., notes understanding andreporting on Scope 3 emissions as the biggest challenge wineries face. This sen-timent was echoed by Harry Peterson-Nedry.Forexample:satisfactoryshippingand travel metrics are still lacking. As a result, reporting Scope 3 emissions for business travel, freight transport and off-site waste is currently optional.

“As part of continual improvement, the CRC reporting tool also includes anoptional measurement guide for emissions fromfermentationofwine,”Brownadds.

“Duringtheprimaryfermentationprocessin wine production, sugar is converted to alcohol, which releases carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The World ResourcesInstitute (WRI)and theGreenhouseGas(GHG) Protocol consider the fermenta-tion process to be a part of the ‘short-term carbon cycle,’ and as a result the emis-sions need not be reported in Scope 1. Instead this process is noted as biogenic emissions.”

Implementation of CRC programThree wineries have shared their plans. Many other wineries are still working on them. For example, Melissa Burr,winemaker at Stoller Family Estate inDayton,Ore., says, “After a full year ofenergy audit…the winery will work with Michele (Martin) to establish a plan of action.” This is expected to be completed by summer 2013.

“The Carbon Reduction Challenge isa challenge upon a challenge for Stoller since we have already designed a very energy-efficient, LEED (Leadership inEnergy and Environmental Design)Gold-Certifiedwinery,” adds Burr. “Wewill work to find ways to reduce our car-bon usage, and I look forward to putting together this plan once we have our base-line metrics from the 2012 energy audit.”

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Jay Somers, winemaker and owner of J. ChristopherWines inNewberg, says:“Our situation is a little different than many of the wineries involved in that we built a new facility in 2010-11 that is very energy efficient. We have undergroundbarrel caves that require no heating or cooling. The building is of concrete con-struction with a layer of insulation inside of two slabs; that is very efficient. Werun minimum heat during the winter to maintain about 50oF inside the building. A 10-K solar system creates more power everyyearthanweuse.Wehavenotpaida power bill on the main building since the solar went in. That is my greatest success.”

Several other wineries shared their success.Brownmentionsimplementingaway to track energy usage. Peterson-Nedry cited change from 850-gram to550-gram bottles, cross-flow filtration as a substitute for pad and diatomaceous earth filtration, and expanding keg dis-tribution of wine to restaurants to mini-mize packaging.

Eric Lemelson, owner of LemelsonVineyardsinCarlton,Ore.,talksaboutrais-ing awareness of sustainability with the winery staff and offering cash incentives for going to more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Hallie Oteiza, sales director for Soter Vineyards, also in Carlton, states, “Wehave a second solar panel installation in 2012 on a second building to double our solar electricity generation while increasing production by 40%.”

She notes an emphasis on local sourc-ing,offeringPlanetOregon(agood,sus-tainable Pinot Noir priced at $22) andpracticing the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), with an emphasis on the first. “We pledge $1 for every bottle sold inOregon to the Oregon EnvironmentalCouncil, which safeguards the healthof Oregonians by working for clean air, clean water and healthy food from local farmers,” adds Oteiza.

KatieWilson, media marketing man-ager of A to ZWineworks/ REX HILLinNewberg,says,“Wedoubledourtankspace since last harvest, requiring 1,000 feet of additional piping, which we have insulated to ensure good thermal effi-ciency. Additionally, we purchased both a large chiller and heater with vari-able speed drives to allow us to control energy consumption based on demand. These changes afford us greater effi-ciency with less wine movement while also increasing wine quality. Though some of our greatest improvements were

maderightafterA toZpurchasedREXHILLin2007,wecontinuetoimproveaswe grow and decreased our percentage 1 and 2 emissions an additional 11.06% between 2009 and 2011.”

CRC program issuesWhileCRCmembersappearcommittedto the cause, significant challenges were noted. Brownwould like to seemetricsfor Scopes 1 and 2 emissions refined to apply to the wine industry and bet-tercarbonbookkeeping.Lemelsonnotesglass as the No. 1 user of energy andsource of pollution. In contrast to Stoller and J. Christopher, Lemelson’s winerywas designed in 1998 without consider-ation of carbon emission mitigation.

ButevenSomershassome issues.Forexample: “The existing buildings on our property are on a separate electrical meter and therefore (stupidly) cannot use the excess power from my solar panels. Wetriedtogetthistowork,butPortlandGeneralElectricsaidno.”Hewouldalsolike to “assess energy consumption in the vineyard and our driving practices for wine delivery.”

Beinggreenrequiresgreen.Peterson-Nedry cites the difficulties with mak-ing capital investments in the face of

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an economic downturn. Nevertheless,futureplansare inplace.Chehalem istackling “low-hanging fruit” that will have minimal financial impact. More glycol lines and other equipment will be insulated. Consideration is beinggiven to switching to gas water heaters and installing solar panels. Oak barrels are used for four years instead of three for economic, carbon reduction and stylistic reasons.

Lemelson wants to change out thechiller,notingthatitistheNo.1userofpower in the winery, but it will be very expensive to do. He also would like to install more solar panels and look into the potential to harness the wind at the Chestnut Hill Vineyard. He will havesales personnel travel less and work to increase retail sales locally.

Sokol-Blosser’s new 5,000-square-foot tasting room will be housed in an energy-efficient building, which is scheduled for completion during sum-mer 2013, and the management also wants to install solar panels.

In his continuing efforts to get entirely off the grid, Somers would like to install a small windmill at the top of a hill and is looking into lower cost models. Soter wouldliketogotoLEDlighting,butsofar it has been prohibitively expensive. J. Christopher Wines is looking intoreducing “vampire” energy by unplug-ging equipment.

Winery CRC successesBrownreportsthatSokolBlosserachieveda 5% reduction in 2010-11 energy use, but he does not have figures for 2011-12.

Martin notes that, “Every member isworking toward the program goals and is a leader in energy efficiency for winer-ies, industry supply-chain companies, other agricultural industries and con-sumers.” The biggest barrier to attracting participants, she admits, is finding time to do the paperwork.

Martin cites the benefits of joining the CRC:thestructureresultingfromtheuseof spreadsheets, peer contact and rein-forcement, plus the potential for striking a resonant chord in the marketplace. Peterson-Nedry notes that the latteroccurs differently from region-to-region, with the West Coast being particularlysensitive, with other parts of the country not particularly caring. Oteiza reports sharing among members at quarterly seminars as an advantage.

SummaryThe impact of the entire wine industry in Oregon on GHG emissions is compara-tively minor and only a small percentage

ofwineriesareparticipatingintheCRC.Nevertheless, it is in the industry’s bestinterest to highlight the impact of GHG emission on climate change.

The growing season average tempera-tureboundsinWillametteValleyduringthe past 30 years has, on average, been between 58° and 61°F, centered within the ideal climate for PinotNoir qualityand production.

However, conservative projected warming rates of 1°–3°F could push the region’s growing season climate outside what we know today as being suitable to high-quality Pinot Noir (crchallenge.

org/about/climate-change-and-wine/climate-change-and-wine-full/).

Despite the challenges, financial bur-dens and uncertain success, there is a single-minded dedication to the cause. As Peterson-Nedryasserts:“Philosophically,this is vitally important. We cannot bepassive for, if we are, we are part of the problem.” PWV

Neal Hulkower is an oenophile living in McMinnville, Ore., for two years and taught mathematics in college for nine years. His writing has appeared in a wide range of academic and popular publications.

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