Kenyan Guinness brewery reduces emissions by 95% by using biomass fuel

The brewery was built and operated by Irish firm Designer Group, for EABL (East African breweries) a subsidiary of Diageo. It employs 30 Kenyans. Picture: Phil Behan/DFA

A brewery in Kenya built and operated by an Irish company uses macadamia nuts and woodchips to power machines producing bubbly Guinness at 6.5% strength.

The biomass plant was one of the climate-friendly businesses seen by Tánaiste Micheál Martin on Wednesday during his trip to the Horn of Africa region.

The brewery was built and operated by Designer Group, under ceo Micheal Stone, for EABL (East African breweries) a subsidiary of Diageo. It employs 30 Kenyans.

Huge machines power through five tonnes of biomass an hour, running 24 hours a day. Steam can be seen rising as the process begins reaching temperatures as high as 700C.

The company has seen a 95% reduction in Scope 1 carbon emissions and savings of $6.4m on energy costs at inception.

Macadamia nuts have proven the most effective at generating extremely high heat, although they also use pine-cones and croton nuts.

Lismore woman Joanne Looby is EABL’s head of beer and she said their Guinness is “lovely and robust”.

She explained the high alcohol by volume level compared to the Irish 4.3% is linked to historic exporting of Guinness via long sea journeys.

“We first came to Africa in 1827 to Sierra Leone, and we are sure Guinness was in Kenya before then,” she said, saying records are patchy.

She described how when she takes a taxi and says where she works the stories of links with Guinness and the local heritage flow just like they do in Dublin.

“It’s the same in Nigeria,” she said, where they also brew.

Guinness was first brewed in Kenya in 1965/66 using local barley and yeast “with a little drop of Ireland in each bottle”, she said, via a Guinness flavour extract sent from Ireland to all of the markets, mainly in Africa.

The country is now the fifth biggest consumer of this drink globally.

The Irish Examiner, in the interests of research, had a sip and was surprised to find it fizzy and very light compared to the Irish product.

Mr Martin said this innovative solution to energy has eliminated the reliance on oils.

Micheál Martin was invited to plant a native tree in the Karuna Forest Reserve. Photo: Phil Behan/DFA

Use of biomass materials has, he said “added value to the farmers, but also saved the company 6m in US dollars and so is an example of the circular economy working very effectively”.

He also met eight smaller eco-companies, part of an Irish-Aid funded partnership with the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre.

Concepta Atieno Ojwang has created a new kind of cooking stove which reduces risks of burns and smoke inhalation for millions of women.

“The kind of oil we are using is from sugar-cane,” she said, adding burning the pellets produces a “clean fuel”.

Her company, Keyo Technovation, expects to improve respiratory health for women and young children.

“We are also trying to ensure we support Kenya in achieving the goal of 100% modern and clean energy by 2028,” she said.

Mr Martin told reporters the Government in Ireland “could be stronger in our communication strategies around climate and the opportunities that can emerge in terms of addressing climate change”.

Active travel routes and greenways are already showing benefits for people and the carbon tax has shown results, he said.

We could do better on the communication side of it but it is very real now in terms of the renewable agenda, the off-shore wind agenda.

Climate change is a live issue in Kenya. It recently faced flash floods while some areas have suffered from devastating droughts.

As a sign of commitment to the environment, he was invited to plant a native tree in the Karuna Forest Reserve.

The soil faced a toxic threat from eucalyptus trees imported during the British colonial times but they are slowly now being replaced by local trees.

Mr Martin compared this to the battle against rhododendrons in Kerry and Cork. Today, he is in Ethiopia and meets with prime minister Abiy Ahmed.