Raise a Greener Glass This St. Patrick's Day

If the approaching St. Patrick's Day holiday has you dreaming of leprechauns, shamrocks and quaffing a wee pint (or two) of green beer, making a few key choices can help lead to you to the green pot o' gold and a tasty, more planet-friendly holiday.

1. Drink Local

You've heard it before and you'll hear it again, but there are few actions that can't be made greener by keeping it close to home. In this case, you're supporting your local economy and community and reducing the transportation costs-in terms of carbon emissions and dollars-for the (very heavy!) liquids.

2. Consider the Container

Here's where it gets a bit tricky; if your suds of choice are brewed close to home, and your local municipality has a good recycling program, then glass bottles are the way to go. But if your favorite frosted barley pop comes from far away, aluminum's light weight help it win out. When it comes to creating the different containers, glass wins the green fight; manufacturing a 12-ounce aluminum can is twice as energy-intensive as making a similarly sized glass bottle-2.07 kilowatt hours of electricity for the can vs. 1.09 kilowatt hours for the bottle-thanks to the mined bauxite required to fashion virgin aluminum, according to Slate's Green Lantern.

But, those numbers assume virgin materials are used all around; adding recycled ingredients to the mix changes things up a bit. To wit: the average beer can contains 40 percent recycled aluminum, while most American beer bottles are typically composed of 20 percent to 30 percent recycled glass. And, the energy savings really add up when you recycle a ton of aluminum compared to a ton of glass-96 percent vs. a mere 26.5 percent-so if your brewery uses cans that contain a fair bit of recycled aluminum, the bottle's environmental edge narrows considerably. Unfortunately, this tends to vary from place to place, brewery to brewery, so it'll require a bit more homework to determine how it's done in your neck of the woods.

The plot is further thickened when you consider where your beer comes from. Glass weighs more than aluminum-6 ounces when empty, compared to less than an ounce for aluminum-so, needless to say, trucking glass bottles around is lot more emissions-intensive than is aluminum.

Ultimately, the best choice might be to toddle down to your local pub and have 'em pull you a draught pint; the Lantern notes that "in terms of packaging per serving they're actually lighter than glass bottles-based on an empty weight of 29.7 pounds, a 15.5-gallon keg provides just 2.88 ounces of packaging per 12-ounce beer." So, for dyed-in-the-wool Guinness drinkers, this is your best bet.

3. Support Green Breweries

Packaging is but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to truly green beer; to dig deeper into the the libations' production by checking out where their power comes from, as an increasing number are embracing alternative energy and super-sustainable production options. Cascade Green, Sierra Nevada, NYC's Village Pourhouse and New Belgium Brewing are just a few that we've noted over at TreeHugger.

4. Open, Enjoy, Recycle, Repeat

Though this last step might seem to go without saying, we can't emphasize it enough, whatever your preferred method for enjoying your green holiday. And, though it's a well-known eco-step, it isn't always translated into action: just 45 percent of aluminum cans and 25 perfect of glass bottles are recycled after they're poured out. And since reusing bottles has failed to catch on en masse, recycling is the next-best option.

Have a safe, green holiday, and, no matter what your preferred pint, please drink responsibly.