Sonoma Green Wineries Video Spotlight: Reducing Energy Consumption First

California Certified Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance and respected green business consultant John Garn approached Jordan Winery about collaborating on a Sonoma green wineries with PG&E that would highlight our extensive energy efficiency efforts at the winery. In this video, I discuss the massive project to revamp our refrigeration and piping systems to help reduce the winery’s energy use.

Since 2006, we’ve been retrofitting Jordan Winery with the latest technology while preserving the vintage character of the chateau. Installment of new energy-efficient “cool roofs,” refrigeration units, warehouse doors, preinsulated COOL-FIT piping systems and LED lighting helped us achieve our initial energy-reduction goals. PG&E’s ClimateSmart program certified our energy usage carbon neutral in 2009, and Jordan decreased its carbon footprint by 24 percent since embarking on this project.

Last year, we reached our goal of reducing winery energy consumption to the lowest possible levels. It’s the equivalent of removing 67 passenger cars from the road for a year, or planting 74 acres of pine trees. That means the Jordan chateau is finally ready for the next step in business energy efficiency: solar. Rather than rushing to convert to solar–and “solarizing” an inefficient structure–we believed it was important to take steps to reduce consumption before we went off the grid.

It’s really exciting to see all these green business efforts coming to fruition on the eve of our 40th anniversary in May.