Sunbury, Pennsylvania
Sustainability & Solar
We roast coffee on sunshine.
Sustainability isn't just a promise. It's something we believe should be measured. Our rooftop solar array helps power a roasting operation built to minimize its environmental impact while providing transparent, measurable results.
Here, you'll find our monthly solar production, environmental impact, and the progress we're making toward our goal of becoming one of the cleanest coffee roasters in the industry. It's just one more way we're Doing Coffee a World of Good®.
- Rooftop solar array
- 753.25kWRooftop solar array1,310 bifacial panels
- First full year of generation
- 864,676kWhFirst full year of generationAbout 96% of the modeled projection
- CO₂ avoided, May 2025 through May 2026
- 648tonsCO₂ avoided, May 2025 through May 2026Solar generation alone, 13 straight months
- Fewer roasting emissions
- Up to 80%Fewer roasting emissionsLoring closed-loop roasters vs. traditional drums
Bars are megawatt-hours of electricity generated on site, read from our solar production portal.
Emissions avoidance is calculated for every month from metered generation at the EPA 2022 national average factor of roughly 1,405 lbs CO₂ per megawatt-hour, so a month may differ from a published report by a fraction of a ton where that report rounded. Carbon figures are U.S. short tons of 2,000 lbs; 648.4 U.S. tons is about 588 metric tonnes. The 923.0 MWh behind them would brew roughly 9.2 million cups of coffee at 100 Wh a cup.
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May 2022
A mill worth saving
The Sunbury Silk Mill went up in the late 1890s and housed manufacturers for more than a century before closing in 2020. It sat empty for two years. Andrew Oakes bought it and moved Fresh Roasted Coffee into 84,000 square feet, choosing to revive a standing building instead of pouring a new one.
The production floor after the move in. -
March 2024
A new roof, painted white
A fully insulated roof went on, finished with a reflective white membrane to cut heat absorption. It turned out to do double duty: the bright membrane bounces light back onto the underside of the bifacial panels, and our year one data shows that gain clearly in the dry, clear months.
The white membrane before racking. -
July 2024
Racking goes up
Steel framework laid out across nearly the entire roof, sized for 1,310 panels.
Framework, mid install. -
December 2024
Flip the switch
753.25 kW live. The system was modeled at roughly 900,000 kWh a year, deliberately more than the facility needed, so there would be room to grow into it. It powers roasting and packaging equipment, HVAC, lighting and the offices.
1,310 panels, seen from above. -
November 2025
Year one, measured rather than modeled
The first full year closed at 864,676 kWh, about 96% of projection. April through June under delivered on irradiance and account for most of the gap. August through October beat the model, helped by clear, dry skies and reflected light off the white roof. We now tune the system against real performance data instead of a spreadsheet.
Peak season on the roof.
Cleaner roasting, batch after batch
Roasting is the single largest energy draw in a coffee plant, and the dirtiest part of the process. Traditional gas drum roasters put out roughly 1.2 lbs of CO₂ for every pound of coffee. At the two million plus pounds we roast in a year, that would be over 1,000 tonnes.
We run five Loring Smart Roasters instead: three Peregrines, a Kestrel and a Nighthawk. Their closed loop recirculates hot air rather than exhausting it, which cuts roasting emissions by up to 80% and gas consumption by 30% to 40% against a traditional drum roaster with a thermal oxidizer. In winter we route that captured heat back into the building and heat the facility with it.
Unlike solar, this number does not move with the weather. It shows up in every batch, every month of the year.
Compostable
envipods®
BPI certified compostable single serve pods that work in a standard K-Cup brewer. Every part of the pod breaks down, including the ring and the wrapper, so a morning coffee does not have to leave a piece of plastic behind.
Recyclable
Packaging that has somewhere to go
Our tea and botanical packaging, coffee pod cartons, plastic pods and aluminum espresso capsules are all recyclable. Aluminum in particular can go around again almost indefinitely.
Donated
Coffee chaff, back into the dirt
Chaff is the papery skin that flakes off the bean during roasting. It is light, compostable and rich in nitrogen, so it works as mulch, as a soil amendment and as bedding for chickens and small livestock. We give ours to local gardens and farms rather than sending it to a landfill.
Every corner
Recycling across the whole floor
Cardboard by the pallet, shrink wrap by the skid, office paper by the bin. Recycling receptacles sit in every corner of the facility, because at this volume the ordinary stuff adds up faster than anything else.
From vacancy to vibrancy
The greenest building is usually one that already exists. Reviving the Sunbury Silk Mill rather than building new avoided the material and waste of fresh construction, kept a landmark on its feet, and put jobs back into a building where a lot of our neighbors had worked before it closed.
It was also harder. A 1890s mill needs new mechanicals, new lighting, new floors and a food-safe envelope before it can pack a single pod. We think that trade was worth making.
It starts long before the roaster
A clean roastery on top of badly grown coffee is not sustainability. We buy from farms and cooperatives that work responsibly: shade grown plots that keep biodiversity intact, water conservation, and organic methods that cut chemical fertilizer and pesticide use.
Fair Trade, Direct Trade and USDA Organic certifications are part of how that gets verified. The longer term work is the relationships, which is why we keep going back to the same growers and, when we can, visit them at origin.
Fresh Roasted Coffee's May 2026 Sustainability Report details renewable energy production, cleaner roasting, and carbon reductions.
Read the report March 2026Fresh Roasted Coffee generated 68.038 MWh of solar energy in March, avoiding 62.74 tons of CO₂ through renewable power and clean Loring roasting technology.
Read the report February 2026Fresh Roasted Coffee generated 45.65 MWh of solar energy in February, avoiding 45.1 tons of CO₂ through renewable power and clean Loring roasting technology.
Read the report December 2025Our December Sustainability report breaks down renewable energy production, clean roasting efficiency, and seasonal CO₂ emissions reduction.
Read the report November 2025Fresh Roasted Coffee’s November 2025 Sustainability Report highlights 35.531 MWh of solar power, 37.01 U.S. tons of CO₂ savings, and stats from our first full year of Solar production.
Read the report September 2025Fresh Roasted Coffee’s September 2025 Sustainability Report highlights 88.57 MWh of solar power, 83.2 tons of CO₂ savings, and new energy efficiency gains.
Read the report August 2025Fresh Roasted Coffee celebrates record-breaking solar energy, reducing carbon emissions while setting new goals for a greener tomorrow.
Read the report July 2025Discover how Fresh Roasted Coffee produced 107 MWh of renewable energy, reduced CO₂ emissions, and reduced waste through sustainability efforts.
Read the report
Coffee for Everybody™
Every cup counts
Lower emissions and lower costs turned out to be the same project. That is why we can put specialty grade coffee on your counter at a price that makes sense, and why we keep publishing the numbers instead of just the adjectives.