PORTSMOUTH�� Brewing tasty beer, while running a beer garden and kitchen, uses a lot of electricity and water, even for small brewers like Alex McDonald, owner of Earth Eagle Brewings.

"Electricity is our biggest" energy bill, said McDonald, who has joined a statewide project to study energy used to brew beer, with a goal of reducing water, electricity and waste.

In his sixth year operating the 165 High St. brewery and pub, McDonald said his entire brewing system runs on electricity, including cold storage, and the hot water for cleaning and dish washing. He said he once had an electricity audit, but the cost-cutting suggestions were cost-prohibitive for small-batch brewers like himself.

"It's incentivized for large breweries that might have $25,000 to pay upfront" for energy-saving equipment, he said.

So when asked if he wanted to participate in the study about beer-making energy, with a goal of finding ways to brew greener and cheaper, McDonald said yes.

"We're interested in being environmentally conscious," he said.

The project is being conducted by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, with the University of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Brewers Association participating. It begins with data collection and the end goal is to reduce breweries' environmental footprints.

McDonald said he's providing information about how much beer he makes, along with his water and electric bills. The information from Earth Eagle, and other New Hampshire breweries, will be collected over time and compared. McDonald said after a sufficient amount of data is gathered, brewers will be able to see how much water and electricity it took for participating brewers to make specific amounts of beer. He said he hopes the information will lead to an understanding of why, for example, one brewer makes more beer with less water.

Cynthia Nelson, with the DES pollution prevention program, said the program provides businesses with free assistance toward the goal of source reduction. Because the craft brew industry is growing across the state, she said, DES obtained a federal grant geared toward helping breweries cut energy and costs.

"Breweries want to be green, but they're busy and their job is brewing great beer," she said. "Most don't have time to figure out how much energy and water they're using."

The project is in its infancy and begins with the data collection of beer-making energy and water costs. Nelson said breweries will share data to compare their operations with others of similar size and see if they use less water, or more electricity. She said similar data is available for breweries around the country and details will allow beer makers "to compare apples to apples."

"We're just starting this," Nelson said. "We hope we'll have some exciting results."

Nelson said her project brought in the UNH brewing program because, "If we teach them how to brew more sustainably, we've got them through their whole career."

UNH Brewery Manager Cheryl Parker said she plans to involve her advanced brewing students, now in their third brewing course. She said they'll "assist in coming up with energy-saving measures" and hope to help brewers across the state make their beer more sustainably. She said her program will also teach students about lesser-known costs associated with running breweries and ways to cut those costs while using less energy and water.

Formerly from Throwback Brewery, Parker said as an example, a lot of brewers learn after the fact they can't dispose of grain and yeast down the drain because of high nutrient content, depending where they're located.

"Some towns can't handle that high nutrient loading," said Nelson, whose background is in chemistry and sustainability.

So they learn they have the added cost and energy consumption for having to compost and/or bring it to farms.

Nelson said the project also has the potential of giving New Hampshire breweries bragging rights about sustainability. Craft beer drinkers, she said, care about the sustainability quotient of the beer they drink.

"I absolutely know the customers care," she said. "They will think it's very cool and we will have the data to back it up."