Beer, bees, and honey from flowering solar farms—everybody loves it. Bringing together a few of the world’s greatest things, Fresh Energy pairs up with the craft beer brewers at 56 Brewing who are back at it again with their deliciously crisp IPA brewed with honey from pollinator-friendly solar arrays. Owners and brewers Kale Johnson and Nick Chute drew on inspiration from the farm-to-table innovators at Spoon and Stable to create a perfectly crushable beer—just in time to welcome warmer weather.
Pollinator-friendly solar arrays—building the ingredients
So how does it all work? For Solarama Crush, Bare Honey and Old Sol Apiaries partnered with solar developers and landowners to place and tend to beehives at pollinator-friendly solar sites. Honey bees naturally forage for pollen and nectar within three miles of the hive. Honey produced on or adjacent to pollinator-friendly solar arrays is then extracted and bottled separately from other honey, where it’s used to add a subtle sweetness to the flavor profiles of specialty craft beers.
About the Center for Pollinators in Energy
Highlighted by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Interior’s National Conservation Training Center, and the Electric Power Research Institute, Fresh Energy has become a nationally-recognized source of expert knowledge on solar sites planted with deep-rooted native flowers and grasses that capture and filter stormwater, build topsoil, and provide abundant and healthy food for bees and other insects that are valuable to agriculture. A capacity crowd at TEDxMinneapolis heard a preview of the multiple crises the Center for Pollinators in Energy is working to address.
We’re accelerating momentum into 2019, advocating for pollinator-friendly habitat in solar siting opportunities throughout the United States. Learn more.
Ready to up your pollinator knowledge? Get all the details about pollinator-friendly habitat development via webinars and other learning opportunities. See the list.
Want to learn more? Email Rob Davis, Director of the Center for Pollinators in Energy, at davis@fresh-energy.org.
