Foodservice equipment engineers discuss saving
energy, water and money in restaurants
Dec. 11, 2012 Alan J. Liddle
Operators trying to lower
energy or water usage and increase efficiency should consider equipment such as
heat recovering ware-washing
systems and newer lighting technology, according to Food Service Technology
Center engineers.
The FSTC in San Ramon, Calif.,
recently marked its 25th year as a lab for testing the energy efficiency, water
efficiency and performance of foodservice kitchen
appliances and ventilation systems.
“It took the first 25 years to
build the foundation and get to the starting line. The next 25 should see us
moving forward,” Richard Young, FSTC senior engineer and director of education,
said of the organization’s evolution. “We study both energy and water
efficiency, and performance, because there is no way you are going to tell
someone in foodservice to use something that does not perform well,” Young
added.
The FSTC, along with Southern
California Edison Technology Test Center and the Southern California Gas Energy
Resource Center, has provided much of the test data used by the federal
Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program and the California Energy
Wise equipment rebate program. Both of those programs develop specifications
for and encourage the use of energy-efficient commercial foodservice equipment.
Ratepayers of Northern
California’s PG&E public utility fund the center and its 10,000-square-foot
lab, which is administered by that utility under the auspices of the California
Public Utilities Commission and operated by Fisher-Nickel Inc.
Young and David Zabrowski, a
fellow engineer and a “kitchen of the future” student, recently spoke with
Nation’s Restaurant News about what equipment is driving energy, water and
money saving in kitchens and restaurant
facilities.
How can restaurateurs improve
the efficiency of their operations?
Young: Purchase
energy efficient appliances, such as those you can find through Energy Star and
California's Energy Wise.
Zabrowski: We’re
not suggesting that operators take out working pieces of equipment, but when
the time comes to replace equipment or buy new equipment, the information is
there to make smart purchases.
The use of newer
lighting technologies, such as compact fluorescent
lighting (CFL) or light emitting diode (LED), has been cited by the FSTC and
others as a smart efficiency play for restaurateurs.
Is that still true?
Young: Yes.
Doing some lighting retrofits can reduce energy
consumption and make a quick return on investment. Buy it in pieces and try it
in advance [of a full installation].
A lot of LED products are
becoming more mainstream, but we do say “buyer beware” because it is a
relatively new industry with a lot of people selling products that won’t look
good in a restaurant or last [as long as claimed]. The trick is to look for
mainstream brands and try them out to see if you like the lamps.
Compact fluorescents are still
very cost effective and can be put in places where they won’t be argued about
[for ambience or food illumination reasons], such as in exhaust
hoods, walk-in coolers,
[covered] wall sconces, managers' offices and storerooms. A $2 or $3 compact
fluorescent light can cut your energy use by 75 percent.
Zabrowski: One
of the real selling points of compact fluorescent lights is that you replace
them less so you save on maintenance costs.
Original article from: http://nrn.com/technology/latest-trends-restaurant-equipment-efficiency
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