A ‘Hungry-Hungry-Hippo’ Slated to Help New Belgium Reduce Carbon Emissions

Colorado craft brewers could see a real "win-win" when it comes to creating those tasty beers, with this new carbon-reducing technology.

CSU researchers have teamed up with a company in Fort Collins to develop a brand new type of system that will be making some of our Colorado craft beers, cleaner. How does a hippo come in?

Coloradans love their craft beers, and many, many Coloradans are concerned about climate change; a new way of creating the steam that goes into making craft beer could put turn some frowns upside down.

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When it comes to craft beers in Colorado, I'm usually the first to say, "I'm more on the consumption side of things," but this new project happening at CSU has caught my eye when it comes to the making of craft beer. Plus, there's a hippo; so this is great.

BRAND-NEW TECHNOLOGY TO BE USED AT NEW BELGIUM IN FORT COLLINS

According to Colorado State University, students at the Walter Scott Jr. College of Engineering at the CSU Campus in Fort Collins are working on the very first of its kind boiler that will be used at New Belgium Brewing. College kids working on a beer project, that must be fun.

RELATED: CSU BREWED BEER BEING POURED AT LAZY DOG

This all-new boiler, that uses an electric heat pump, as opposed to burning natural gas, will produce about one-third of New Belgium's needed thermal energy to make their craft beers.

This "decarbonizing" of the steam process could lead to a 7% reduction of gas emissions across the world if utilized by beer, food, paper producers, and other industries, according to Colorado State.

WHERE DOES THE HIPPO COME IN?

When developing the boiler kettle with CAD, the team joked that it kind of looked like a baby hippopotamus, and that just carried over into the actual development of the boiler. So, when it was complete, they "officially" labeled it, "Hungry Hungry [Hippo.]"