Fresh Roasted Coffee's Sustainability Report - August 2025
Welcome back to our monthly Sustainability Report! Each month, Fresh Roasted Coffee shares a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re putting our renewable energy, responsible sourcing, and innovative practices to work. July was just the beginning, and now we’re back with another round of fresh numbers and a peek at our sustainability initiatives.
Powering Sustainability: Record-Breaking August
Last month we challenged ourselves to cross the 110 MWh mark, and our solar array rose to the occasion. We squeaked over the finish line generating 110.426 MWh and cutting 77.59 U.S. tons of carbon in the process. That’s a new high score for Fresh Roasted Coffee! While September’s weather can be a bit of a toss-up here in Pennsylvania, we're hoping for another stellar month before we hit the fall/winter months with notably less sunshine.
For comparison, 110.426 MWh of energy would
- power 123 average U.S. homes for a month (assuming ~899 kWh per home/month) US EPA
- brew 1.104 million cups of coffee (assuming 100Wh per brew on a standard machine) Silicon Valley Power
We used the EPA’s 2022 national average emissions factor of ~1405 lbs CO₂ per MWh, to determine that our facility avoided 77.59 U.S. tons of CO₂ emissions by using a renewable energy source for power.
Cleaner Roasting: How'd We Stack Up?
Sustainability doesn’t stop with our solar panels. Inside the roastery, our Loring Smart Roasters reduce both energy use and carbon output with every batch, making sure our eco-friendly initiatives are baked right into the roasting process. In August, Fresh Roasted Coffee avoided 12.30 U.S. tons of carbon emissions by using clean roasting technology.
And when you add it all together, the carbon we avoided with our solar array and our clean roasting technology, the impact is even bigger. In August, Fresh Roasted Coffee kept 89.89 U.S. tons of CO₂ out of the atmosphere.
For comparison, that equals
- The amount of CO₂ 3,750 trees absorb in one year. EPA
- The amount of CO₂ produced by 18 passenger vehicles driven for one full year. EPA
Coffee-Break Science: What's A Carbon Ton, Anyway?
We’ve been talking a lot about carbon lately, 12.30 tons avoided here, 77.59 tons avoided there...but does anyone know what that actually means? When we say “ton” at Fresh Roasted Coffee, we’re using U.S. tons (also called “short tons”), which weigh in at 2,000 pounds each.
To put that into perspective, 1 U.S. ton of emissions equates to
- the emissions from burning 1,100 lbs of coal
- the emissions from charging 121,000 smartphones
- the emissions from consuming about 113 gallons of gasoline.
(Those comparisons are based on EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.)
But not everyone measures carbon this way.
When discussing carbon emissions, you may also see these units of measure:
Metric tons (tonnes): the most common unit globally, equal to 1,000 kilograms or about 2,204 pounds.
Imperial tons (long tons): less common today, but equal to 2,240 pounds.
So while our updates are based on U.S. tons (to stay consistent with EPA comparisons and U.S. energy standards), the numbers could look a little different depending on which measurement you use. For example, our 89.89 U.S. tons of avoided emissions in August equals about 81.6 metric tons.
Eco-Friendly Extras: RECYCLING THROUGHOUT OUR FACILITY
With all the eco-friendly policies we have established for our manufacturing facility, Fresh Roasted Coffee would be amiss to exclude recycling. From office paper and packaging material to production scraps and shipping supplies, there is no end to recyclable waste, which is why we station recycling receptacles in every corner of our facility..
Why does it matter? Recycling keeps valuable resources in circulation and out of landfills, where they would otherwise contribute to greenhouse gas emissions as they break down. For a facility our size, those small, everyday choices add up quickly. Think pallets of cardboard, skids of shrink wrap, and bins of office paper all being re-used or repurposed instead of discarded.
By treating recycling as a standard practice across departments, we reduce waste, conserve natural resources, and shrink the overall footprint of our operations. It’s just another way Fresh Roasted Coffee proves that clean coffee isn’t just about ethical sourcing and clean roasting. It's about integrating sustainable practices throughout our business from top to bottom.
Looking Ahead
This month gave us plenty to celebrate: a record-breaking 110.426 MWh of renewable energy, nearly 90 U.S. tons of CO₂ kept out of the atmosphere, and another step forward in making clean coffee the standard, not the exception.
As proud as we are of August’s achievements, sustainability isn’t about one big win — it’s about showing up month after month, season after season. September’s weather in Pennsylvania could tip either way: cloudy and cool, or sunny and strong. That’s why we’re setting a realistic target of 100 MWh of clean energy produced while continuing to focus on every practical way to reduce our impact across the roastery.
Thanks for following along on this journey — we’ll keep raising the bar, one batch and one beam of sunlight at a time.
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