The solar-coffee connection
Coffee connoisseurs, when they quaff a cup of coffee or enjoy a jug of joe, don't generally consider the costs to the environment of their favorite beverage. But the fact is that traditional coffee production is hard on the environment, exacting a toll on the native forests and waterways of Central America and on the migratory birds of the western hemisphere. Coffee growing is the second greatest cause of rainforest destruction after cattle ranching, because a lot of trees are cut down to dry the freshly-picked coffee crop. But espresso-sipping environmentalists and an eco-conscious Joe Public can take comfort in a promising new connection between solar energy and rainforest-friendly coffee--solar-dried coffee. And they can take pleasure in it too, because solar-dried coffee, according to virtually everyone who tries it, is the best-tasting coffee made. Considering that coffee is the second most-traded commodity next to oil, and the second most popular beverage in the world next to water, consumed by billions of people, any new process that reduces the environmental damage occasioned by coffee-growing and processing is significant.
- Research Organization:
- SUN Utility Network, Los Angeles, CA (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20080319
- Journal Information:
- Solar Today, Vol. 14, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Mar-Apr 2000; ISSN 1042-0630
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Systematically Improving Espresso: Insights from Mathematical Modeling and Experiment
High performance liquid chromatography with two simultaneous on-line antioxidant assays: Evaluation and comparison of espresso coffees