The Israeli town of Tsfat (or Safed) is typically associated with the colour blue, owing to the tint that many of its buildings are painted with. But modern Tsfat, famous for being a centre of Jewish mysticism, its graves of tsadikim and art galleries, could just as easily be associated with brown. Since 1956, Israel’s major coffee and chocolate manufacturer, Elite, built a factory there, making the smell of coffee, not to mention smoke from the plant and traffic which have become part of many residents’ daily lives.
According to a recent report in Ha’aretz, the Elite plant is now undergoing a “green revolution”. Last week, a large furnace was installed to burn leftover coffee beans to power the plant instead of oil, a move which the company says will reduce the consumption of the fossil fuel by 50%. Typically, vehicles also burn gas to truck the spent beans from the factory, passing lorries carrying oil on their way in.
“This creates a direct connection between being ‘green’ and being efficient,” Pini Kamari, vice president of Strauss. “Motivation for the change came from our desire to cut costs, reducing energy costs and transportation costs for both the shale and the waste. At the same time, emissions will be much lower, both from the smokestacks and from the trucks. We will create less waste and need to bury less garbage. Noise will also be reduced.”
:: Ha’aretz, Wake up and smell the green revolution.
Photo: miscpix.
Author: Michael Green
Born into a family of auto mechanics and engineers in east London’s urban sprawl, Michael bucked the trend and chose a bicycle instead of a car. A relative newcomer to Jerusalem, he works as a freelance journalist writing for the Jerusalem Post and other publications. Before moving to Israel, he worked for an environmental NGO in England where he developed a healthy obsession with organic vegetables and an aversion to pesticides and GMOs. Michael’s surname is pure coincidence. Michael can be reached at michael (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Your graceful handling of a difficult situation is inspiring. I love your generosity to your readers/viewers and the hope you offer to us. I share your faith that everything will work out.
Still no more news about this. Maybe it was a PR stunt?
Your graceful handling of a difficult situation is inspiring. I love your generosity to your readers/viewers and the hope you offer to us. I share your faith that everything will work out. Singles
What about thinking a energy efficient combo factory? It would be better if you power a factory using leftover beans, solar energy, and wind to generate power.
Using leftover beans to power a factory can reduce waste emissions which is very good to out environment.
Using coffee bean leftovers can help us in our waste management. I'm not familiar what would be the effect of coffee when it use as an energy but this is more cost effective than using fuels and coal as a source of power.
I am wondering what kind of residues including smoke is coming from burning coffee versus burning oil. Does it produce Co, SOX, CO2, or NOX as some oils produce when they are burning? What is the cost of collecting the old coffee and how does this factor inot the ROI for such a plant?
I tried to contact Elite about covering this story and their spokesperson said the company didn’t want any PR about it. That was early this year. Usually companies love to advertise CSR projects. Maybe there is a hitch in this particular one with coffee.