Global Warming
We’ve also put a lot of thought into how we can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with making our ice cream. This includes a carbon inventory that measures carbon emissions from the farm level through distribution and our Global Warming Social Footprint that determines the minimum level of carbon emissions our company can emit in order to help stabilize the concentration of CO2 in the air.
One of the important ways we try to demonstrate our commitment to reduce global carbon emissions is to purchase high-quality carbon offsets, which funds projects that wouldn’t happen without investments like ours. Beginning in 2002, our contributions have helped Native Energy with projects such as building the Rosebud St. Francis wind-turbine and we invested in a wind-turbine on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation that powers a radio station providing the only source of mass communication for the community.If we can make a better ice cream, we certainly believe we can build a better freezer. You see, many freezers these days use nasty hydro-fluorocarbons (HFC) that cause ozone depletion and global warming. That’s why we’ve been leading the charge to get the EPA to allow for hydro-carbon (HC) refrigeration — which is safe for the environment and is already being used in many other countries around the world. These freezers are at least 10% more energy efficient. Also, since 1999, we’ve been working with scientists to reduce our freezers’ energy consumption through thermoacoustic chilling — which means using sound waves to cool the ice cream. Ice cream that’s cooled in fridges that don’t harm the environment? Sounds pretty cool to us!
Our ongoing commitment to the environment also involves working closely with Efficiency Vermont to target areas for energy improvement within our factories — from reducing waste to installing smaller and shorter pipes to increase production efficiency. And we encourage other companies to follow our lead!
