Nipping Energy Use in the Spud

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Frito-Lay hopes to manufacture eco-friendly potato chips

Posted at 3:31 PM on 15 Nov 2007

You know it's crunch time when a potato-chip factory goes green. A Frito-Lay factory in Arizona has plans to produce, yes, carbon-neutral potato chips: sliced, fried, seasoned, and bagged in a plant nearly entirely off-grid and powered with renewable fuels. The company's Casa Grande plant will make do in its desert locale by recycling water, and will advertise that it's using solar power to make SunChips. Frito-Lay -- which is owned by PepsiCo, the nation's biggest buyer of renewable-energy credits -- hopes to replicate successful measures in other factories.

source: The New York Times

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Comments: (4 comments)

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But the Bags

Well, it's a nice start.

Now if they would just do somethin' with those non-biodegradable potato chip bags of theirs.

by Tasermons Partner at 4:35 PM on 15 Nov 2007

And the oil used to fry?

Is the oil trans fat free? Are the potatoes real or GM? Ultimately the product is eaten so that should be part of the equation too. Healthy earth and healthy humans.

Nice for their P.R. machine but if they are doing something positive then good for them. I'm still depressed about yesterday's story about food labeling so am cynical when it comes to the bogus food chain.

by Vikingsson at 4:54 PM on 15 Nov 2007

n

How does changing the source of one's energy nip energy use?

by Nucbuddy at 5:07 PM on 15 Nov 2007

Mmm... Semantics.

Technically, it doesn't. But it does kill their greenhouse gas emissions, which is the point of reducing energy use. So, yeah; the article would have been better named "Nipping GHG Emissions in the Spud." But word choice aside, it's still an awesome thing for Frito-Lay to do; here's hoping they make it a habit.

by Pathos at 8:10 PM on 15 Nov 2007

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