[McGINNIS] Controlling climate change from your computer. That's what's in thehotZONE this week. It's an apocalyptic future -- Seas rise, deserts grow, and desperate humans and animals roam the earth. It's the climate-changed world, but now you can save it from devastation. In the new computer game "Fate of the World" just released in test version, players come up with strategies to bring mankind back from the brink of destruction brought on by our failure to tackle climate change while we could. The maker, Red Redemption, says Fate of the World is based on current climate science.

When you reach for that bag of chips for the big game this weekend, will you be thinking about your carbon footprint? Unlikely, right? But you can lower your carbon emissions with the snacks you choose. "energyNOW!"'s Lee Patrick Sullivan headed to the Midwest to meet with some people taking charge of the energy they use through sustainable snacks.

[SULLIVAN] My quest to find sustainable snacks starts in the Buckeye State. They make tortilla chips in this place. It's the Shearer's chip factory outside Canton, Ohio. And they're the world's only Leed Platinum certified snack food plant. I had to see how they did this, so Plant Manager Ken Brower gave me the tour.

We started where they cook the corn. The sun coming through the windows nearly eliminated the need for overhead lighting. Sensors on the ceiling controlled compact fluorescent bulbs. A sunny day, the lights are off. Overcast, like today, a few lights come on. And the water used to cook the corn is preheated by capturing energy from the plant's one-of-a-kind infrared oven.

[KEN BROWER] We use it to heat the corn-cook water. We use it to heat the water that we use for sanitation, when we clean our equipment after the process is done, and we also use it for building heat.

[SULLIVAN] This place saves energy in nearly every corner of the building. See the way those chips are vibrating into the bags? That uses 50% less energy than shaking. Rainwater is captured here for use in the plant's restrooms. Ken Brower is obsessed with saving energy. During our tour, he noticed some steam coming out of the fryer.

[BROWER] There's heat coming out of the fryer that doesn't need to be coming that way. It should either be contained in the fryer or going up the stack where I can actually recover a bit of that heat. So that is a waste point at this point.

[SULLIVAN] So this whole process has changed the way that you look at manufacturing.

[BROWER] Absolutely.

[SULLIVAN] In total, this plant uses nearly 1/3 less energy than other plants of its size. But what exactly do numbers like that mean when it comes to manufacturing across the entire country? You'd have to have a Nobel Prize in physics to figure that one out, and I don't have one, but this gentleman does. Mr. Secretary, what does a plant like this mean to energy-efficient manufacturing practices across the country?

[STEVEN CHU] It means, if you take the right steps and think about what you're doing, and make investments, those investments will pay off, perhaps, and the energy-efficiency investments could pay off in six years. And so we need plants like this to lead the way and to show and to bring people here and say, "You're thinking of building a new plant, do it this way."

[SULLIVAN] If every food manufacturing plant in the U.S. did do it this way, each year it would save enough energy to light, cool and heat every home in Florida. Secretary Chu said the owners took all of these efficiency steps and didn't take one dime of government incentives. Me, on the other hand, I was looking for a handout. What? It's one of the benefits of the job -- free samples. I'm getting thirsty.

And that brings us to Wisconsin. And what goes better with a bag of salty chips than a cold glass of beer? That brings us to the Central Waters Brewing Company here in Amherst, Wisconsin, but, come to think of it, I can't drink any of it because I'm on the clock. I'm going to need some help.

Who wants to partake in some sustainable libations? Who wants free beer? All right, let's go.

This is your neighbor Kelly, and he wants to learn about sustainable brewing.

[PAUL GRAHAM] Kelly, nice to meet you.

[SULLIVAN] Paul Graham, the brewery's owner, explained to me and my newfound friend Kelly Taylor how his company has become Wisconsin's first sustainable brewery. Every beer starts out by using local ingredients when possible to cut down on his carbon footprint.

Did either one of you ever think that you could drink a beer and save the Earth?

[TAYLOR] I did not.

[GRAHAM] I always hoped.

[SULLIVAN] But what keeps this place hopping is the row of 24 solar water heaters out back. Next to them -- six photovoltaic panels run the pumps.

When you think of Wisconsin, you think of the Packers, cheese, beer, and snow. You don't think of sunshine, but yet that sun is just blaring right now, isn't it?

[GRAHAM] It is -- today's a good money day for us. A good money-saving day, I should say.

[SULLIVAN] This is where the brewery gets the bulk of its energy savings. The panels preheat the water used in the brewing process and this place uses a lot of water. 1,500 gallons a day, to be precise. And all that water needs to be 165 degrees. The solar water heaters produce H20 at 135 degrees. Then natural gas takes it the rest of the way. And that water is also used to heat the building through pipes in the floor, also known as radiant heating.

[TAYLOR] I'm very interested now in radiant floor heating. Also the solar panels.

[SULLIVAN] Now that he has the solar panels, that heating bill now is zero, correct?

[GRAHAM] Exactly. Doesn't cost a dime to heat 15,000 square feet.

[TAYLOR] That's amazing.

[SULLIVAN] But my newfound friend didn't forget why I brought him to Central Waters. ```

[TAYLOR] The tour has been great, Paul, I appreciate it, but didn't somebody say something about a free beer?

[GRAHAM] Here you are, sir.

[SULLIVAN] I'm a man of my word.

[TAYLOR] Thank you very much.

[SULLIVAN] Does it taste sustainable?

[TAYLOR] I can't taste the sustainable, but it tastes great.

[SULLIVAN] The solar water heating system will save Paul Graham nearly $1.5 million over the next three decades. But he insists that's not why he made his brewery more efficient.

[GRAHAM] We do this because it's right. And simply because it's right.

[SULLIVAN] And back in Ohio, Ken Brower is looking for new ways to save energy at Shearer's other chip factories.

[BROWER] It's part of our culture now in this company and we're expanding that to some of our other plants as well.

[SULLIVAN] Now, not all sustainable efforts go as planned. Remember the folks over at Sun Chips? They came out with the world's first 100% biodegradable snack bag. The problem was, the thing was so loud, the company was flooded with complaints. So many complaints that they ended up taking the bag off the shelves. The folks over at Frito-Lay, which owns Sun Chips, say they haven't given up on a biodegradable bag. Expect a new one, and quieter one, on store shelves soon. In Massillon, Ohio, Lee Patrick Sullivan... "energyNOW!"

[McGINNIS] And Kettle Chips' green efforts are growing beyond its factory walls. The cooking oil from those sustainable chips is now used to make biodiesel and power company cars.