Arizona winery first to produce ‘green’ wine

PHOENIX — Many wineries in Arizona specialize in red or white wines, but only one winery has “green” wine.

Page Springs Winery in Cornville, Ariz. will be the first winery in the state to go green after it installs several hundred solar panels this month, according to Susana Meister, the winery’s wine club and marketing director.

“We are going to be installing 375 solar panels in our parking lot,” Meister said.

Those 375 panels will cover about half of the lot and produce 85 percent of the winery’s power, according to Meister.

“It’s a huge step toward us reducing our carbon footprint,” she said. “Construction is going to begin in early August and it’s going to take about three weeks.”

Reducing the effects of carbon emissions is vital for future of industries such as wine growing, Meister said.

“Any agricultural company especially would receive more benefits and be prime to make this change,” she said.

Arizona is second only to California is the number of solar industry jobs and Meister said it makes sense to use solar power in a state with about 300 days of sunshine each year.

“Arizona’s solar capacity is nearly seven times that national average,” Meister said. “When you consider that 70 percent of all electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels and that results in one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions, why wouldn’t you go solar in Arizona?”

Beside reducing the company’s carbon footprint, Meister said they expect the panels will reduce its electricity bill as well, saving the company approximately $1,100 per month.

Meister said eventually they hope to add more panels and produce 100 percent of their power from solar energy.