Energy analyst Alex Epstein has argued that Budweiser is taking advantage of consumers’ energy-related ignorance by stating that its beers are brewed with 100 percent renewable electricity, pointing out that the “most of the energy that goes into its beer is fossil fuel.”
Epstein made his case in a viral Twitter thread as well as a Substack post and an exclusive interview with Pezou.
In 2018 Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, announced that “Budweiser has launched a renewable electricity symbol that indicates when a Budweiser beer is brewed with 100 percent renewable electricity.” This claim might lead consumers to believe that the beer is brewed only using renewable energy.
In publicity from this year, Anheuser-Busch celebrated the fact that it “sourc[ed] 100% of its purchased electricity from renewables” for its domestic beer and seltzer brands. An asterisk informed readers that “Electricity is one type of energy we use to brew.”
In his Twitter thread, Epstein pointed out that brewing accounts for a small fraction of beer’s energy input, citing a 2016 study on the environmental impact of beer in the United Kingdom.
He also noted that most of the brewing energy for beer typically comes from natural gas rather than electricity, citing a guide from the Brewers Association.
In addition, Epstein highlighted the Anheuser-Busch Jacksonville facility, which produces Budweiser along with other Anheuser-Busch brands. He stated that tanks visible on Google Maps were for natural gas.
“How many of Budweiser’s customers reading a ‘100 percent renewable electricity’ label have any idea that most of the brewing is being done using fossil fuels–including this natural gas facility in Jacksonville that Budweiser uses?” he asked on Twitter.
Epstein directed Pezou to the Energy Justice Network, which documented 8.6 megawatts (MW) of natural gas turbine power at that facility based on filings with the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
EIA’s 2020 Form-860 records confirm this, documenting 8.7 MW of natural gas fired combustion turbine power at that plant, along with records of 26.1 MW of natural gas steam turbine power from three generators at Anheuser-Busch St. Louis and additional natural gas power associated with Anheuser-Busch’s operations elsewhere in the U.S.
When reached by Pezou, a spokesperson for the Anheuser-Busch facility in Jacksonville could not confirm whether there were operational natural gas turbines at the plant.
Epstein also criticized the company’s reliance on renewable energy credits in order to claim that the electricity it uses is 100 percent renewable.
“Budweiser literally pays utilities to give them credit for others’ renewable electricity and give others the blame for Bud’s nonrenewable electricity!” he wrote on Twitter.
“I consider their main public-facing messaging—’100 percent renewable electricity’ and ‘brewed with 100% renewable electricity’—which is all that 99 percent of the public sees, to be lying because it involves at least some and usually all of 3 deceptions that I mentioned,” Epstein told Pezou.
“three deceptions,” in Epstein’s words, are “1. Only counting brewing—a small percentage of beer’s energy use. 2. Only counting the fraction of brewing energy that comes from electricity. 3. Falsely labeling its fossil fuel electricity as ‘renewable.’”
Epstein has asked Budweiser to publicly apologize for presenting what he sees as misleading and incomplete information on its energy use. He told Pezou that Anheuser-Busch has not yet done so.
“Surely they think that if they lay low, this issue won’t get too much attention. I aim to prove them very wrong,” Epstein said.
Epstein thinks Anheuser-Busch’s claims are damaging to the public understanding of how energy is actually produced and used.
“Not only do I consider this fraud, because the lying is designed to win over customers, but I am alarmed by how effective ‘100 percent renewable’ and ‘net zero’ lies have been at advancing disastrous political attempts to achieve these impossible targets,” he told Pezou.
“ current Build Back Better bill, for example, which is designed to move to net-zero by 2050, should be viewed as calling for the total destruction of American energy. But because … energy liars claim to be ‘net zero,’ Americans think we as a nation can be, as well.”
Anheuser-Busch did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Pezou.
Pezou : Budweiser Accused of Downplaying Fossil Fuel Use