Restaurant Energy and Waste Conservation Ideas

Below is a  shortened version “Cook Up Some Savings,” an article written by Christy Simo, managing editor of Restaurant Forum.

Simple Maintenance Leads to Big Savings – consider the tips below for reducing your carbon footprint while also reducing your costs.

Test and repair leaks. According to the EPA, a faucet leaking just a tenth of a gallon of water a minute can waste 50,000 gallons or more of water a year. That’s some serious money down the drain. And don’t forget the toilets, which can waste roughly 200 gallons a day.
An easy way to check for leaks is to add a teaspoon or two of food coloring into the toilet tank. Wait 30 minutes, then check to see what color the water in the toilet bowl is. If it looks like regular water, you’re in the clear. If the water is the same color as what you added to the bowl, you have a leak.

Tad Mitchell, owner of two Six Feet Under locations in Atlanta, does a monthly check to make sure everything is working properly.
“We have someone come through once a month and do the overall maintenance on all of our plumbing,” he says. “That in itself has saved us some money.”

Implement a startup/shutdown schedule. Leaving equipment on standby costs you money. By implementing a startup/shutdown plan, you can make sure you only use the equipment you need when you need it. The savings can be substantial.

Develop a plan and educate your staff on when to start up and shutdown items in the restaurant. The list should include things like lights, holding cabinets, dipper well faucets, the broiler, fryer and range. Turn off the lights in closets, storerooms, restrooms, offices and even dining areas when they are not in use. Be sure to power down non-essential equipment outside your kitchen, too, such as copiers, front-of-house computer systems and other office equipment.

Check your thermostats. It’s not uncommon for thermostats to lose accuracy over time. Check them periodically and recalibrate as necessary to reduce the amount of unnecessary energy you are using.

Take care of your oven. Tighten the hinges and check the seals on your oven door to make sure everything is working properly. Replace the seals if they are torn. Also, if you can’t turn your oven off during the day, reduce the temperature during slow periods, then raise it again during peak hours.

Take a look at your pilot light. Pilot lights require a constant stream of gas to stay lit, but you can adjust how much gas you are using. An over-fired pilot light has a tall, yellow flame. Adjusting the flame so that it is bullet-shaped and mostly blue will help reduce the amount of gas that you use.

Be dishwasher smart. Check your temperature pressure in your dishwasher. If it’s above 25 psi, you could be using more water than you need. Also be sure to fully load your dishwasher racks before turning it on.

Educate your staff. Let everyone know some of the things they can do to help reduce your waste and energy use, and get them involved in the bigger effort.

“Look inside your business and find the person who’s really motivated to make these changes,” says Patrick Cuccaro, general manager of Atlanta-based catering company Affairs to Remember. “If you have someone in your organization who feels strongly about these principles and who has a strong ethic regarding environmental stewardship, then let them lead the way.”

Small Changes Can Make An Impact
There are some easy things that you may be doing already to reduce energy consumption, such as replacing dirty air filters and using a programmable thermostat. A few other ideas:

Get an energy audit. This is a low-cost way to learn about your energy use and to identify efficiency options that may be right for you.
“For us, it was about the Zero Waste Zone program,” says Cuccaro, who notes Affairs to Remember is the first Zero Waste Zone caterer in Atlanta. (See page xx for more on this program). “But for somebody else, it might be about just getting rid of the Styrofoam.”

Change your light bulbs. There have been a lot of advances in Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) light bulbs over the past few years—the days of harsh bright light is gone. Not only that, but an average incandescent bulb lasts approximately 2,000 hours. A CFL? On average, 10,000 hours. Over time, that money adds up. Don’t forget your walk in, too. Incandescent lights give off more heat than low-temperature CFLs, forcing your refrigerator to work harder and use more energy, upping your monthly bill. Swap them out for low-temperature CFLs.

Install low-flow spray valves. According to the Food Service Technology Center, a low-flow spray valve can save a restaurant up to $1,000 a year. It’s one of the easiest and most cost-effective energy-saving devises out there for commercial kitchens. On average, they last about five years and pay for themselves within one year—and only cost about $5 to $25 more than a standard model. Also check with your local utility or water district for rebates or repayment programs that reward installation of this product.

Add aerators. According to the National Restaurant Association, running a water faucet for five minutes uses nearly as much energy as running a 60-watt light bulb for 14 hours. You can’t control how long customers run your faucets, but you can install water-efficient aerators to help reduce the amount of water running down your drains. If you install them in both the kitchen and restroom sinks, you can save as much as a gallon of water per minute, and they cost under $5 per faucet.

Install timers and sensors. To help regulate energy usage, consider installing occupancy sensors for your wall light switches or timers on kitchen equipment. If your hot water system includes a recirculation pump, for instance, you could be throwing money away if it’s still on when your kitchen is closed. Install a timer that turns off the pump when the kitchen ramps down, however, and you stand to save hundreds of dollars on energy costs.

Apply window glaze. This clear, heat-rejecting window film can reduce your cooling costs while also making your dining room more comfortable. Consider placing them on windows facing south and west, which get the most direct sunlight. The film will help reduce your need for mechanical cooling, which in turn will help pay for the window film. These films also block ultraviolet light, which can fade your carpet, chairs and other fixtures in your dining room.

Long-Term Investments
There are things you can do that pay off immediately, but also think long-term. Life cycle costs such as purchase price, annual energy costs and estimated maintenance costs can help you assess if you should incorporate a particular “green” product or change into your restaurant.

A few long-term investments that will have you seeing green:

Add more corn to your diet. Consider switching out your to-go cartons, straws and plastic bags with corn-based products, which are better for the environment.

Install new toilets. According to the National Restaurant Association, a standard toilet uses as much as 4.5 gallons per flush. A low-flush toilet uses just 1.6 gallons per flush. That’s why nearly three in 10 quick service restaurants and four in 10 full-service restaurants have installed water-saving toilet fixtures in the last two years alone.

Use energy that already exists in your kitchen. Kitchens are energy hogs, and there are products out there that reuse the energy it typically wastes. For example, a refrigerant heat-recovery system uses heat wasted from walk-in refrigerators and freezers to reheat water used in the kitchen.

Affairs to Remember installed two products to help reduce their energy use, including a Kvar. This energy controller reduces the amount of non-productive current running through a building’s electrical system that is normally wasted, significantly reducing electrical costs and carbon emissions.

“All of our motors have Kvars now, and our refrigerators have an I-Cube, which measures the temperature of the food instead of the temperature of the air,” Cuccaro says. “When you open a walk-in, there’s a rush of inside air in, and a typical thermostat will register that outside air as being hotter on the foodstuff inside then the food really is. So this measures the temperature of the foodstuff, and it causes the compressor to go on and off less frequently. It’s actually safer for the food.”

Upgrade your appliances. Look for the Energy Star label when considering changing out your kitchen equipment. The designation means you’ll save energy and dollars in the long run.

Haul away your spent grease. That mucky used grease is actually an asset that others see value in. Several biofuel companies will now come to your restaurant and dispose of your spent grease, often for free.

Grow your own. Some restaurants, such as Ecco, a Fifth Group Restaurant, have built whole kitchen gardens on their roofs to help supplement their produce deliveries. The restaurant’s executive chef, Micah Willix, built six garden boxes on the roof and sealed them with used cooking oil. Because Ecco’s air conditioning units produce 30 gallons a day of condensate water, he also added rain barrels to harness the condensation and pump it to the roof for a drip irrigation system.

You don’t have to be as ambitious as growing all your fruits and vegetables on your roof. Many restaurants simply have an herb garden tucked away on the side of their building.

“We have a chef’s herb garden that we grow using organic principles,” Cuccaro says, adding that it’s only about 25 feet by a few feet deep. “We use those herbs year round. We dry them when they’re not in season.”

Consider composting. You can compost almost any food product in a commercial kitchen environment, and may restaurants that compost keep a separate container near the prep area so cooks can easily dump their food waste as they go. A company then will come on a regular schedule to pick up the compost, often reselling the finished dirt either back to the restaurant or to others.

“We compost a ton. I think it’s about 23,000 pounds a month,” says Mitchell, who uses Greenco to haul away their compost. “They’re super nice. They take it and compost it, then resell the compost.”

Recycle. Yes, this is the granddaddy of them all, but once you get your employees in the habit—many of them already recycle at home already anyway—it becomes second nature. Check to see if your municipality offers recycling, or contact one of the many companies in Georgia who specialize in recycling.

Donate unused food. A single restaurant disposes an average of more than 50 tons of organic waste every year, with food scraps comprising 66% of that waste. Contact local shelters, soup kitchens or food banks such as the Atlanta Food Bank to find out the need in your community. You’ll not only divert waste from landfills, but also help others in need.

Implementing just a few of these ideas, whether big initiatives or small maintenance tasks, does add up.