One in Seven Anheuser-Busch Beers Will Be Brewed Using Alternative Fuels by End of 2009

ST. LOUIS, July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- More than five billion 12-oz. servings of beer -- or about one in seven beers brewed by Anheuser-Busch in the United States -- are expected to be brewed using renewable fuel by the end of 2009*, thanks to environmental efforts at the company's 12 U.S. breweries. The company's breweries in Houston and Fairfield, Calif., are currently installing alternative energy technology that will be operational by year end, and as a result the company's U.S. breweries will run on more than 15 percent renewable fuel.

The Houston brewery will use biogas from a nearby landfill as part of an alternative fuel plan that when combined with the facility's bio-energy recovery system (BERS), is anticipated to provide more than 70 percent of the brewery's fuel needs. The Fairfield brewery will use BERS, a technology that turns brewing wastewater into fuel, and receive electricity from solar panels being hosted on-site.

'We have a long history of protecting and preserving the environment, and these projects will move us closer to our goal of running our U.S. operations on 15 percent renewable fuel by 2010,' said Doug Muhleman, group vice president, Brewing Operations and Technology, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. 'It's part of our pledge to be better environmental stewards of the world we share.'

Anheuser-Busch has entered into an agreement with Ameresco McCarty Energy to purchase biogas from Allied Waste Services' McCarty Road Landfill in Houston, making use of an alternative fuel source for the company's local brewery. The biogas is a natural byproduct of waste decomposition at the landfill. Currently, some of the biogas from the McCarty Road Landfill is being captured, processed and sold to a local utility, while the excess is flared (burned without energy recovery). Ameresco plans to capture some of that unused biogas and transport it to the Anheuser-Busch brewery through a six-mile underground pipeline.

The Fairfield brewery will generate 15 percent of its fuel needs from a Bio-Energy Recovery System (BERS) that is currently under construction. BERS technology turns nutrients in brewing wastewater into renewable biogas that is used to decrease the use of natural gas. In addition, the Fairfield brewery has entered into an agreement with SunEdison to host a solar power plant on the brewery's property.