For many years, Bread Alone has stood out as a sustainable leader of the local Hudson Valley food scene. From the very first loaf of bread baked back in 1983 at its original Boiceville location, the company has been using organic grain way before it was trendy.
“That grew out of my dad’s visits to farms and seeing that organic agriculture treated the land in a way that felt right to him. There has always been an appreciation for the natural world,” says CEO Nels Leader, who took over the family business from his father Daniel a few years ago.
The brand continues to lead. This summer Bread Alone is unveiling the next step in its doing-what-feels-right business: they’re revitalizing their original Boiceville spot by turning it into the first carbon-neutral bakery in the country. To their knowledge no others exist, though they welcome comment on any they might have overlooked.
“An important part of the future is combating climate change. We believe strongly that we all have a responsibility to take action,” says Leader.
While there are arguably many ways to address the climate crisis, Leader and his team of 200 employees are focused on their cutting down their carbon footprint.
“Every day we mix, shape, bake, and distribute over 20,000 loaves of bread to the northeast,” Leader notes. All of this baking and distribution requires ample energy resources. “We need to release less carbon into the atmosphere,” he says.
In addition to the Boiceville location, there are Bread Alone cafes in Woodstock, Rhinebeck, and Kingston (technically Lake Katrine). The bread, made from locally grown and milled wheat, is also sold at small local stores as well as larger grocery stores like Tops, plus 15 regional farmers’ markets weekly, most in New York City. All of this baking and distribution requires ample resources. “We need to release less carbon into the atmosphere,” he says.
To reduce their carbon footprint, they first tackled how much energy they actually need and sought ways to lower their usage. Their new heating and cooling systems, air source heat pumps, in Boiceville will be very efficient. Drastically reducing energy use might not be as thrilling to customers as buttery croissants, but running a bakery on 100 percent renewable energy — zero fossil fuels at all — is impressive.
The Bread Alone kiosk on site at the Boiceville location will remain open even when the bakery is complete. It sells baked goods seven days a week and wood-fired sourdough pizzas on weekends.
Bread AloneSolar power already supplies 30 percent of Bread Alone's energy at its Kingston headquarters, where they make the thousands of loaves sold at grocery stores. But the Boiceville location will do away with all fossil fuels.
Unlike most commercial kitchens that use propane, says Leader, “We are not running gas lines” at Boiceville. Instead, a mix of solar-powered electricity and wood-fired ovens will power everything they do.
The roof of the carbon-neutral bakery and the meadow behind the building will be covered in solar panels, which will power all their electricity needs. A battery will store unused solar power.
“It’s a complicated installation,” says Leader, who worked with Harvest Power to achieve this goal.
Bread Alone also paired with their primary oven manufacturer, Heuft, to design a propane and natural gas-free system that runs on electricity. In addition to baking bread in an electric oven, they will continue to use their original Andre Lefort wood-fired ovens.
“All bread will be made using energy from the sun or scrap wood from furniture makers in the area,” Leader notes.
The Environmental Protection Agency declared the burning of wood to be carbon neutral in 2018. There are arguments against classifying burning wood as carbon neutral, but they rest primarily upon using raw wood, not wood that has already been harvested as Bread Alone is doing. And because trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere as they grow and can be replanted to re-absorb the carbon that is released when they burn, it can technically be considered a sustainable source of energy.
"Trees consume and emit carbon in the natural carbon cycle. When they die they can decompose or they can burn," said Leader by email, adding that these two scenarios are "just different timelines for the release of carbon."
The company's overall commitment to carbon neutrality is at the forefront of any conversation with customers and potential new Bread Alone vendors.
“It’s a big experience of people learning about the brand,” says Leader, who is always quick to point out that Bread Alone is certified climate neutral, and is a member of 1 percent for the planet (1 percent of revenue goes to environmental non-profits).
“Just like certified organic is something people look for and care about, climate certification is going to be very important in the future.”
To have the biggest positive impact on the environment, Leader is taking additional action beyond carbon neutrality in Boiceville. He’s busy working on compostable food packaging to replace plastic bags and is looking to add electric trucks to his delivery fleet as soon as viable ones come to market. He also plans to provide chargers for Boiceville customers who arrive in electric vehicles as well as for their future EV trucks.
All of this should be celebrated — and it will be. There will be an opening party for the Boiceville carbon neutral bakery late this summer — the details are currently the works. Expect bread. In the meantime, the on-site kiosk at Boiceville will continue to offer their baked goods daily and wood-fired sourdough pizza on weekends, even after Boiceville’s transformation is complete.
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