Design Life-Cycle
assess.design.(don't)consume
Mihir Kulkarni
Professor Cogdell
SAS 43
6 December 2018
Energy Expended in Making Wine
Wine is one of many alcoholic beverages produced worldwide, all of which go through a similar manufacturing process: harvesting, crushing, fermentation, bottling and distribution (Myres). In 2017, 280 million hectolitres of wine were produced globally, with Italy contributing nearly a fifth of the share (“Top 15”). A large amount of energy is expended to provide electricity for the machines in the winery, in the transportation of the raw materials and distribution of finished products. Primarily, fossil fuels are used up in these stages. The environmental impact of wine production can be quantified by looking at the energy expended during each of the aforementioned stages. The findings can be extrapolated to the production of other alcoholic beverages to get a better understanding of the environmental impact. While current wine production processes are energy intensive, switching to alternate sources of fuel and energy production will be more sustainable, subsequently reducing the carbon footprint and help industries become more cost-efficient.
A significant portion of land and fossil fuels are used to grow grapes. 19 million acres were used for producing grapes in 2005, which were converted into 286 million hectolitres of wine (Smyth and Russell 1986). Globally, an estimate of 13 million GJ of energy was expended for electricity just at the vineyard in 2005 (Smyth and Russell 1990). Preparing the vineyard for sowing grapes is an energy-intensive process, namely for plowing and harrowing such a large area of land. Large mechanical equipment and farm vehicles are used for the aforementioned processes. The main source of energy for these are fossil fuels. Using solar energy and converting that into electrical energy will reduce the carbon emissions at this stage of making wine. Another major component of growing the grapes is irrigation. Most vineyards depend on a pump for irrigation. Solar energy has application at this sub-step since most pumps need fossil fuel (either petrol or diesel) to run (Smyth and Russell, 1989). While it can be difficult to match the power output of conventional pumps, changing to solar energy will reduce the carbon emission. It will also be cheaper in the long run since the producers will not have to continually buy fossil fuels. Additionally, canopy management is employed to improve the quality of the yield (Gorman-McAdams). It is significant in cold-climate and in areas with low sunlight. Reflectors can be placed on the ground to direct oncoming sunlight onto the leaves and fruits to increase yield (Smyth and Russell, 1989). Since grapes are planted sometime in spring and harvested in summer, solar energy is a reliable source in viticulture.
Industries are adapting more machines to manufacture wine and are more dependent on electricity and fossil fuels. Winemaking has significant heating and cooling requirements, which also make use of fossil fuels. Approximately 10.5 PJ of energy is released by burning LPG, petrol or diesel for heating water or producing electricity in wineries across the world (Smyth and Russell, 1990). In a study that looked at wineries across England, 512 MWh of energy was used in a year to make 1,032,194 bottles of wine (Smyth and Nesbitt 87,89). It also states that 44% energy was directed towards heating, cooling and lighting the facility. It is not surprising that electricity accounted for 63% of the energy input. On the other hand, two wineries one in Italy and another Portugal, have 24m2 of solar arrays and 56m2 of solar panels installed which provide all the hot water needed (Smyth and Russell, 1991). This reduces the need to buy fossil fuels or electricity from the grid for these wineries. Other wineries can adopt these measures to significantly reduce the costs of operation. 56m2 is a relatively small area and will reduce the cost of purchasing or renting land for small-scale industries. This can reduce an estimated 0.41 kg of CO2 per bottle produced (Smyth and Russell 1990). EOS Estate Winery in California, USA is another example of a winery that operates completely on solar energy. At peak capacity, it will output 540 kW and cover the electricity requirements (1991). Despite these advantages, solar energy can be unreliable due to varying weather and industries might still need to rely on fossil fuels.
Alternate sources for producing electricity will indirectly benefit the wine industry. A study that looked at the energy consumption of grape production in a greenhouse calculated that 27.64% of the energy goes towards electricity (Ozkan et al. 1502). This is a major share of just producing grapes, which could be substantial for industries that are a combination of vineyard and winery. During fermentation, the must uses an estimated 3 MJ energy to raise the temperature by 10 C for fermentation. This is assuming that a wine fermentation tank is 1000 L and the thermal capacity of must is 866 cal kg-1 C-1 (Colombié et al. 954). These values can be extrapolated to get J as the global energy consumption for making 286 million hectolitres of wine. Assuming that filtration techniques have become more cost efficient and faster, it would take under 30 minutes to filter 1000 L of wine at minimum output. This would consume close to 11 KWh of energy (Yurtoğlu, 1987). For the global production, it amounts to another 3 MJ of energy for clarification and filtration. In California alone, 400 GWh of electricity is used annually (Galitsky et al., 2005) to produce wine. Over time these costs add up for the industries, which can impede growth for small industries and hinder expansion for mid-size industries. Since solar energy is unreliable in regions with cold weather and low sunlight, electricity becomes the main source of energy. Another improvement would be to update lighting and other equipment to more efficient and cleaner ones. All of this will contribute to reducing the embodied energy of making a wine bottle. Therefore, alternative sources to produce electricity will be cheaper for industries.
Distribution methods for food and beverage industry are energy-intensive, and wine distribution is no exception. A mid-size truck can travel about 100 km to distribute wine bottles to local retailers as per the laws of the country (Cholette and Kumar 1407). This consumes about 36 L of fuel, assuming an efficiency of 2.77 km L-1 (Sivak et al. 2016). Diesel or fuels with similar composition are the primary fuel for trucks and airplanes. For a journey of 100 km, roughly 0.3 kg of CO2 is emitted and 4.05 MJ of energy is consumed by trucks. The figures get worse for a small truck, 12.7 MJ of energy and nearly 1kg of CO2 is emitted for just 72 km (Cholette and Kumar 1409). For longer journeys, airplanes are preferred since it eliminates the need to have temperature controlled containers. Additionally, airplanes offer faster delivery. Using data from Cholette and Kumar, the estimated energy used by a plane and carbon emission is about 7.7 MJ and 5 kg respectively to travel 100 km. This is a slightly better method of distribution since planes can carry a larger quantity of bottles, which reduces the emission per bottle. Thus, ordering in bulk and using larger shipping vehicles is more sustainable. Similarly, offering carpools for wine tasting events would also benefit the environment by reducing fuel used. Storage is another aspect to consider in the distribution of wine bottles. However, storage uses a negligible amount of energy and leads to minimal CO2 emissions (Cholette and Kumar 1409-10). Therefore, less energy will be used and the carbon footprint will be reduced by using better distribution methods.
Not all the glass bottles end up being recycled. According to Krivtsov et al., glass can end up in a landfill or get sent to a recycling plant if it is collected from bottle banks or curbside collection centers. The glass that ends up at landfills increase the size of waste but do not degrade (Larson et al. 754). Only 25.16% glass gets recycled and uses approximately 68000 GJ annually (Krivtsov et al. 179). He suggests that more bottle bank or collection centers be set up to increase the recycling rate but it poses the problem of transporting these to the recycling plant. It is difficult to discern the energy required to recycle one bottle since the total quantity recycled is not stated. Another approach is to wash bottles so they can be reused. This has huge savings in energy since manufacturing 1 tonne of bottles uses about 8 GJ of energy (Larsen et al. 759). Although obtaining data for energy consumed in washing glass bottles was difficult, it is not in the range of 8 GJ, which saves energy and makes re-using glass bottles a good strategy for waste management. Recycling has other benefits including saving resources, lowering carbon emissions and extending machine life (“Recycling”).
In conclusion, it is not entirely feasible to switch all inputs to renewable sources of energy. Solar and wind energy is unreliable given weather patterns and complexity of storage issues. Although Hydrogen fuel cells are less polluting and efficient, getting a major source of Hydrogen that would power industries worldwide is a major challenge. Despite this, small modifications in the various processes (growing, pressing, fermentation and transportation) can be sustainable and cost-efficient. Lastly, it will contribute to a positive image for the wine industry.
Bibliography
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Anon. “Effects of Fermentation Temperature on Wine.” Winemaker's Academy, 25 June 2018, winemakersacademy.com/effects-fermentation-temperature-wine/.
Anon. “Recycling.” Why Recycle Glass? | Glass Packaging Institute, www.gpi.org/recycling/glass-recycling-facts.
Anon. “Top 15 Wine-Producing Countries.” Italian Wine Central, Oct. 2018, italianwinecentral.com/top-fifteen-wine-producing-countries/.
Cholette, Susan, and Kumar Venkat. "The Energy and Carbon Intensity of Wine Distribution: A Study of Logistical Options for Delivering Wine to Consumers." Journal of Cleaner Production. Elsevier, 09 June 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2018. <https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/S0959652609001838>.
Colombié, Sophie, Sophie Malherbe, and Jean-Marie Sablayrolles. "Modeling of Heat Transfer in Tanks during Wine-making Fermentation." Food Control. Elsevier, 20 July 2006. Web. 21 Oct. 2018. <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713506001368>.
Gorman-McAdams, Mary. “Wine Words: Canopy Management.” Kitchn, 9 Dec. 2013, www.thekitchn.com/wine-words-canopy-management-197919.
Krivtsov, V., et al. "Analysis of energy footprints associated with recycling of glass and plastic—case studies for industrial ecology." Ecological Modelling 174.1-2 (2004): 175-189.
Larsen, Anna W., Hanna Merrild, and Thomas H. Christensen. "Recycling of glass: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions." Waste Management & Research 27.8 (2009): 754-762.
Myres, Kim. “5 Stages of the Wine Making Process.” Laurel Gray Vineyards, 19 Oct. 2015, laurelgray.com/5-stages-wine-making-process/.
Ozkan, Burhan, Cemal Fert, and Karadeniz. "Energy and Cost Analysis for Greenhouse and Open-field Grape Production." Energy. Pergamon, 07 Nov. 2006. Web. 21 Oct. 2018. <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544206002659>
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Sivak, M. et al. “A Survey of Fuel Economy.” Oct. 2016, doi:10.18411/a-2017-023.
Smyth, M., and J. Russell. "'From Graft to Bottle'-Analysis of Energy Use in Viticulture and Wine Production and the Potential for Solar Renewable Technologies." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Pergamon, 12 Feb. 2009. Web. 25 Oct. 2018. <https:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032109000161>.
Smyth, Mervyn, and Alistair Nesbitt. "Energy and English Wine Production: A Review of Energy Use and Benchmarking." Energy for Sustainable Development. Elsevier, 29 Aug. 2014. Web. 31 Oct. 2018. <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0973082614000830>.
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Mason Bright
DES 40
Professor Cogdell
13 November, 2018
Waste and Emissions Associated With a Bottle of Wine
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, around 36 billion bottles of wine are produced each year. With such a massive production scale it is important to identify the main sources of waste and emissions that occur throughout the lifecycle of a bottle of wine because even the smallest changes to the process can have a far reaching impact. In this paper the three main components of a wine bottle; the glass, the wine itself, and the cork will be examined thoroughly in order to determine their impact on the overall waste associated with their lifecycle and it should become clear that individually none of these components has a very large footprint and the greatest source of emissions lies in the distribution aspect of production.
While the production of glass tends to release some fairly harmful emissions, particularly NOx, the sheer scale of the wine industry actually helps solve many of these issues. Recyclability has always been an issue with glass, while it is completely recyclable this requires sorting which is often tedious and for most types of glass it is considered to be more effort than it is worse. Wine bottles, however, make up such a large portion of glass that this effort becomes worth it and they are generally made of the same green glass so sorting is made much easier and thus occurs at a much higher rate than any other type of glass, “According to a study conducted by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap), switching from clear glass to green cuts packaging-related CO2 emissions by 20%. This is due to the higher recycled content in green glass bottles, which is as much as 72.4%, against an industry standard of 28.9%”[2]. This shows that green glass is far more recyclable than any other type and thus will have greatly reduced emissions associated with it. Once sorted the glass is processed into cullet, “New glass can be made with up to 95% cullet, so using recycled glass means less mining for new materials”[1]. Being able to reuse materials like this isn't the only benefit of recycling glass because making glass with cullet is far less energy intensive than simply producing new glass from raw materials, “Cullet has a much lower melting temperature than its original constituents and therefore requires around 40% less energy to create the molten glass that forms the containers. In Europe in 2011, this meant the emission of more than 7m tonnes of CO2 was avoided, the equivalent of taking four million cars off the road”[2]. This lowered melting point has several large impacts on the emissions associated with glass production. Aside from requiring far less energy, the emissions that occur during the process are much cleaner. Creating glass requires high temperature combustion which tends to release some harmful gasses, so by reducing the temperature these are made far less abundant, “The recycling of waste glass packaging is thus claimed to preserve the environment, since the raw materials are not exploited, energy is saved, the emission of CO2, NOx, SO2 particles is reduced because less heat energy which is usually obtained from land gas and electrical energy is needed for the melting of glass cullet than for obtaining of glass melt from raw materials”[9]. Another method of cutting emissions that is gaining popularity is experimenting with the packaging of the bottle. By using thinner glass distributors can create huge savings not only on the carbon footprint of glass production but on its transportation as well. Overall glass the waste emissions associated with glass are fairly mild given the massive amount that is produced and in the production of a bottle of wine it can be considered a very minor concern.
The next aspect to analyze is the wine itself. In the production of any crop the main sources of emissions tend to be the fertilizers, however, wine does not have very high emissions associated with its fertilizers, “Grapes don't require the copious amounts of fertilizers to grow that other crops such as corn do, Colman explained, making them a minor proportion of wine's overall footprint. (Fertilizers, along with pesticides, can still pollute the local environment though, and some wine producers are moving to more organic wine-growing practices)”[8]. With the fertilizers not being an issue the next step of the wine production to analyze is the fermentation step which naturally releases carbon dioxide, however this step also seems to be relatively insignificant, “Likewise, the carbon dioxide released from the fermentation of wine grapes makes up an insignificant percentage of the total emissions associated with wine production”[3]. If the fermentation step is also negligible then all that leaves is the transportation of the wine from the producer to the consumer which takes up a huge proportion of the carbon footprint of wine, this will be discussed later on.
Predictably, the cork used in wine bottles represents a very minor portion of the overall emissions but is still important to note. Cork can be recycled similarly to glass, however this occurs very infrequently and instead it usually ends up in landfills. This would be an issue with glass since it takes around a million years to decompose, whereas cork is biodegradable enough that it can even be used for compost. Similarly to the other components the main source of emissions comes not from any aspect of its production but rather the transportation and distribution side of its lifecycle, this is shown clearly in the graphic below that provided a breakdown of the carbon footprint of cork.
With each of the primary materials covered in depth now it is apparent that the largest source of emissions actually comes from the transportation of the bottles from the producer to the consumer. There are several reasons for this however the most relevant is quite simple, “Because wine is only produced in specific regions of the world, be it Bordeaux or Napa Valley, it must often be transported long distances to reach wine drinkers. This is particularly true in the United States”[10]. What is also important to note is the impact of different shipping methods, “Comparing the emissions factors of different transportation methods, Colman and Päster found that air cargo was the worst, followed by trucking, with container shipping by sea having the lowest impact (five times less than trucking and 11 times less than air cargo).” Unfortunately, reduced emissions are not always the main goal and wine distributors who generally prefer speed over environmental friendliness and air cargo and trucking tend to be much quicker than shipping by sea. Another important consideration is the efficiency of the packaging. As mentioned earlier some distributors are experimenting with thinner glass in order to reduce the weight of their shipments, a company named Rawlings and Belu have actually recently developed the lightest weight glass bottle in the industry “As the first customer, Belu will save 850,000 kg of glass per year (equivalent to 2.1m wine bottles) and reduce its carbon emissions by a further 11%”[5]. Aside from making the glass thinner there are also companies experimenting with square packaging designs which can be transported with much greater efficiency than standard round bottles. As transportation represents the largest portion of the carbon footprint of wine production it is imperative that companies continue experimenting with new ways of reducing its impact.
Overall wine is a surprisingly environmentally friendly item to produce, it is only when it needs to be shipped to the consumer that its carbon footprint really begins to grow. The main components; glass, wine, and cork are all environmentally sound in their own way. Glass is entirely recyclable and this process is even more prevalent for green glass which greatly reduces this aspect of the carbon footprint. Wine grapes don’t require the amount of fertilizer that most crops and their fermentation process is relatively low in carbon production as well. Cork is either recyclable and biodegradable so its impact is probably the most negligible of the three. The area with the largest room for improvement is by far the transportation side of the business and as companies continue to experiment and develop new strategies we will continue to see this impact lessen as well.
Bibliography
[1] Aranda, Alfonso, Ignacio Zabalza, and Sabina Scarpellini. "Economic and environmental analysis of the wine bottle production in Spain by means of life cycle assessment." International journal of agricultural resources, governance and ecology4.2 (2005): 178-191.
https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJARGE.2005.007199
[2] Balhuizen, Tom Wood and David. “How Innovation in Glass Manufacturing Is Turning Green Even Greener.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 2 July 2013, www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/innovation-glass-manufacturing-green.
[3] Bosco, Simona, et al. "Greenhouse gas emissions in the agricultural phase of wine production in the Maremma rural district in Tuscany, Italy." Italian Journal of Agronomy 6.2 (2011): 15.
https://www.agronomy.it/index.php/agro/article/view/88
[4] “Carbon Footprint.” Carbon Footprint - Cork Supply, corksupply.com/us/sustainability/carbon-footprint/
[5] Cholette, Susan, and Kumar Venkat. "The energy and carbon intensity of wine distribution: A study of logistical options for delivering wine to consumers." Journal of Cleaner Production 17.16 (2009): 1401-1413.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652609001838
[6] Christ, Katherine L., and Roger L. Burritt. "Critical environmental concerns in wine production: an integrative review." Journal of Cleaner Production53 (2013): 232-242.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652613002084
[7] Colman, Tyler, and Pablo Päster. "Red, white, and ‘green’: the cost of greenhouse gas emissions in the global wine trade." Journal of Wine Research20.1 (2009): 15-26.
[8]. “Our Environmental Impact” Environmental Impact , ACG Glass Eurpoe, www.agc-glass.eu/en/sustainability/environmental-achievements/environmental-impact.
[9] Pattara, Claudio, Andrea Raggi, and Angelo Cichelli. "Life cycle assessment and carbon footprint in the wine supply-chain." Environmental management 49.6 (2012): 1247-1258. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-012-9844-3
[10] Lucica, Ivana. “Impact of Glass Cullet on the Consumption of Energy and Environment in the Production of Glass Packaging Material .” Recent Researches in Chemistry, Biology, Environment and Culture, www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2011/Montreux/COMICICBIO/COMICICBIO-30.pdf.
[11] Thompson, Andrea. “The Carbon Footprint of Wine.” LiveScience, Purch, 10 Nov. 2008, www.livescience.com/3041-carbon-footprint-wine.html.
Emmett Moore
Professor Christina Cogdell
Design 040
6 November 2018
The Materials of a Wine Bottle
Winemaking first started 7000 BCE China where an unnamed alcoholic drink was made from wild grapes, hawthorn, rice, and honey. This method spread to Egypt in 5000 BCE where they started making the first grape-only wine. Even though it has been 7000 years since the Egyptians started making their wine, the processes and materials they used to make the wine and bottle is essentially the same as what we use today. While the processes for producing both the wine and bottle is the same, the efficiency of the winemaking process and material usage has increased enormously through the application of automated processes, the recycling of raw materials, and the development of chemistry. By examining the raw materials that go into producing a bottle of wine and the different methods used to obtain these materials, we can find the sustainability for the lifecycle of a wine bottle and see where improvements in sustainability can still be made. In order to find the raw materials used in the entire lifecycle of a wine bottle, we must analyze every step of the winemaking process for material usage. The 7 major steps in the winemaking process are growing, harvesting, crushing, fermentation, filtration, aging, packaging/bottling.
Grape growing starts with installing the stakes and trellises that the grapes grow on and then planting the grapes. In America, for delicate grapes or European grape strands, the vines will be grafted to the roots of a grape strand that is resistant to American pests and diseases. Next the vines grow for a couple of years before the grapes can be harvested yearly. During this time fertilizer and pesticides are used to help the vines grow. While the grapes are growing there are different methods to keep the grapes from being damaged by frost. One method is propane heaters in the fields during cold mornings, another is giant fans that keeps frost from settling. Sometimes sprinklers are used for the same purpose. When it comes close to harvest, usually nets are put over the vines in order to keep birds from eating the grapes. Finally, when the grapes are ready to be harvested, some are hand-picked and carried in baskets, while many are now machine-harvested using large machines that drive over the vines, knocking the base and shaking the grapes off of the vines. This method saves a lot of time and manpower in comparison to hand picking the grapes. For the growing and harvesting part of the process, the materials used are fertilizer, pesticides, water, gasoline, electricity, and the lines (or trellises) the grapes grow on.
Once harvested, grapes are transported by truck to the winery where the crushing, fermentation, filtration, and aging happens. First, the grapes are put into a stemming-crushing machine that removes the stems and crushes the grapes to extract the juice. If a red wine is being made, the grape skins are kept in contact with the juice for fermentation, but for white wines the skins are removed by filtration. For fermentation the grape juice and pulp, otherwise known as “must,” and skins are put into a tank and the sugar content is measured periodically with a hydrometer. It is important for wine to reach the correct sugar content before fermentation because the sugar is what turns into alcohol, and therefore the sugar levels before fermentation determine the alcohol content afterward. If there is not enough sugar, often beet sugar is added to red wines and cane sugar to whites. After the intended sugar content is reached, yeast is added to turn the sugar into alcohol and start the fermentation process. During the fermentation process there is also heat and carbon dioxide being produced as the yeast metabolizes the sugar. Because of this, the tank is left open so pressure doesn’t build up and the temperature is regulated differently depending on the wine. For red wine the fermenting temperature is from 68-86 degrees Fahrenheit to increase the extraction of color and flavor from the skins in the must. For white wine the temperature is kept below 59 degrees Fahrenheit in order to prevent flavor contamination. The must is left to ferment for about 7-14 days, depending on the wine; usually red wines ferment for longer. The fermented wine is filtered and then put into a temperature-controlled tank to settle for around two months, and then it is filtered again, sometimes with a centrifuge. Cooling the tank to below 50 degrees Fahrenheit is important because the fermentation only stops if the wine is left below that temperature for more than 5 days. This filtration process is repeated multiple times and then the wine gets a final filtration before aging. For aging, the wine is put into containers, often steel tanks or oak barrels, and is aged for 1-4 years for white wines and 7-10 years for reds. While aging, the temperature is controlled either by direct cooling of the tanks or storing it underground were the temperature is consistently around 50 degrees fahrenheit. After aging, the winemaking process is complete and the wine is ready for bottling and is shipped to a bottling facility. The materials used when turning the grapes into wine (fermentation, filtration and aging) are yeast, sugar, electricity, gas, filters(made from cellulose, cotton, or polyethylene).
The main materials in the bottling process are the wine, the glass bottle, and the cork and seal. The glass wine bottle is made up of mainly silica dioxide(SiO2), soda(Na2O), and lime(CaO). These contents are melted in a furnace at around 1675 degrees fahrenheit. Usually about 15-50% of recycled glass is added to this mixture before it is formed into shape. The bottle is formed by a machine that cuts the glass into sheets, rolls the glass, pushes it into a mold, and then uses compressed air to blow the glass into shape. These empty bottles are then packaged and shipped to bottling facilities. The corks are made from cork which is harvested from the bark of the cork tree and is then flattened and compressed. After being compressed, it is cut into cylinders either automatically or manually with machines depending on the quality of the corks. The finished corks are put in bags and then shipped to bottling facilities. The bottling of the wine is sometimes done semi-automatically, but is usually fully automatic. To avoid oxidation of the wine while it is aging in the bottle, the bottles are held (by machine) upside down and flushed out with carbon dioxide or nitrogen gas. They are then flipped back and filled from the bottom with a tube that is inserted into the bottle in order to reduce oxygen exposure. After being filled, the bottle is corked and then a tin capsule is molded and glued to the top of the bottle, the bottle is labeled, and finally the filled wine bottles are put into cases and are shipped out to a distribution center and from there distributed to stores. The materials used in the bottling process are silica dioxide, soda, lime, iron oxide, nickel, aluminum oxide, barium oxide, sulfur trioxide, magnesia, tin, recycled glass, electricity, gas, nitrogen or carbon dioxide, glue for the label, and paper for the label.
The glass wine bottle is usually either green or brown and is made up of about 73% silica dioxide (SiO2), 17% soda (Na2O), 9% lime (CaO), 1-3% coloring agent [iron oxide (Fe2O3) for green or nickel (Ni) for brown] and sometimes trace amounts of aluminum oxide (Al2O3), barium oxide (BaO), sulfur trioxide (SO3), and magnesia (MgO). Silica dioxide, or silica, is one of the most abundant resources on the planet but it is not renewable. Almost all sand in the world is largely made up of silica. The silica used in making glass is generally extracted from sand mines that extract a higher purity of silica sand than the normal sand you find on the beach. Sodium oxide, or soda, is the most common flux agent for making glass but potassium oxide and lithium oxide can also be used. Flux agents are materials that lower the melting point of a composition, in this case glass. In the past, soda was mined, but now it is made through a chemical process that uses ammonium gas, carbon dioxide, and brine (salt water). This makes soda ash, which is sodium carbonate. Soda ash is renewable and can be purified to make soda but for glass making it is unnecessary because in the heating process it will turn into soda by releasing carbon dioxide. Calcium oxide, or lime, is a stabilizer used to make the glass more durable. Lime is made from crushing limestone (calcium carbonate) and heating it in a kiln which emits carbon dioxide, leaving the lime. Because limestone is mined and takes thousands of years geologically, it is considered non-renewable. Even though most of the materials used to make glass are non-renewable, they are in such a large supply that they are unlikely to run out for a long time.
Fertilizer is one of the most important parts of grape growing and takes a lot of natural resources and chemical processes to make. The most important fertilizers for grape growing are phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium. Phosphorus is important to grape vines because it is necessary for the plants’ metabolic chemical reactions. Most phosphorus fertilizers are made of ammonium phosphate. This means that with a low phosphorus content, the growth of the vines will be greatly reduced. Phosphorus rock is mined and is reacted with sulfuric acid to make phosphoric acid. The phosphoric acid is then reacted with ammonia to make the ammonium phosphate. Because the phosphorus rock is a finite resource it is for the most part non-renewable although there are some ways of recycling used phosphorus and producing it through chemical reactions on small scales. Nitrogen is also important to grape vines because it is key in making some proteins and nucleic acids. Without enough nitrogen the growth of the vines would be stunted and the leaves would turn yellow. Most nitrogen-based fertilizers are made from ammonium nitrate. This is made from first making ammonium by reacting the nitrogen in the air with natural gas. Then the ammonium is heated with oxygen to make nitric acid. Then more ammonium is added to the nitric acid and when heated it creates ammonium nitrate. Nitrates are quite renewable because there are multiple ways of producing them chemically, and the materials for those processes are renewable. Potassium is important in grapevines because it helps in protein synthesis and other plant functions. If the vines do not have enough potassium they will have dead spots on their leaves and weak roots. The most commonly used potassium-based fertilizers are potassium chloride and potassium nitrate. The most common way of obtaining potassium chloride is through potash mines and then the potash is processed and refined to get mostly potassium chloride. Although potassium chloride is mined, potash can also be made from just plant ash, which makes it renewable. Potash is only mined because it is cheaper to obtain it through mining.
Throughout the entire wine bottle lifecycle electricity and fossil fuels are consumed for many steps of the wine and bottle making process. Gasoline and diesel fuels are consumed in the transportation of the grapes to the winery, transportation of the wine to the bottling facility, in the distribution of the finished wine, and in the harvesting machines. Because the majority of electricity in the United States is produced through fossil fuels, so in terms of energy-efficiency, using electricity is essentially the same as burning fossil fuels. Electricity is used in the giant fans to keep the grapes from frosting, the sprinklers, wine temperature regulation, wine pumps, the stemming-crushing machine, and the bottling machine. For many of the chemical processes including the glassmaking, ammonium nitrate, and lime processes, gas or coke heating is required for the reaction. Together this makes a lot of non-renewable energy consumption in the wine bottle lifecycle.
Even though there are some non-renewable resources like limestone, phosphorus, and fossil fuels being used in the process of making a wine bottle, the resource efficiency is surprisingly high, and there are a lot of elements that could easily be improved in resource efficiency. For example, in the glass making process there could be a lot more recycled glass used. Glass is 100% recyclable, and actually uses less energy to make recycled glass than making it from scratch. The main reason it isn’t done is to keep the glass color and stability consistent. Phosphorus is also able to be recycled to a high percentage, but right now it is too expensive to be beneficial or profitable to companies. The biggest use of natural resources in the lifecycle of a bottle of wine is in fossil fuels. The gas used in the various shipping aspects of the wine bottle lifecycle make up around 50% of the total carbon emissions and the majority of the total embodied energy. As of now the best way to dramatically increase the resource efficiency of a wine bottle would be to increase the resource efficiency of the methods used to ship the wine. Overall the materials used in making a bottle of wine are pretty efficient except for fossil fuel usage. With the current shift toward renewable energy and electric vehicle transportation, more efficient transportation could be achieved in the near future, significantly improving the sustainability of producing a bottle of wine from the beginning to the end of its lifecycle.
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