Maximizing energy efficiency in a restaurant isn’t just beneficial for the environment — it’s smart business practice. Keeping up with energy-efficient trends is a habit that helps with achieving business sustainability as well as one that improves your bottom line.
With energy costs continuing to increase and energy bills making up for approximately 30 per cent of a building’s annual budget — strategizing energy efficiency can save your business from additional costs you can otherwise avoid.
Energy-efficient commercial equipment is getting even more efficient
Trusted brands like ENERGY STAR can help your commercial kitchen achieve a huge amount of long-term savings from their flight type dishwashers with low power modes and heat recovery available (up to $49,000 lifetime savings) to reduced water consumption for connectionless model steam cookers ($11,100-$11,900 lifetime savings). Investing in energy-efficient commercial equipment leads to significant savings for your restaurant!
Heat waste recovery systems are all the rage
This energy-efficient system allows wasted heat to be used for a productive purpose. The Green Restaurant Association endorses the ThermoGreen Filter system that takes the extra heat from stove hoods and transfers it so it can do things like heat water. It turns heat waste into a free source of energy — now, that’s energy-efficient!
Monitoring the air-conditioning in the summer (heating in the winter)
While it’s easy to set a default temperature on your air-conditioning or heating and let the system adjust — by paying attention to the actual temperature it allows you to lower, higher or even shut off the system to save on heating and cooling costs. After all, heating and cooling in a restaurant adds up and accounts for about 28 per cent of your overall energy bill.
Insulating hot water pipes
A pipe sleeve can make a huge difference in energy savings when you insulate your hot water pipes — after all, it reduces heat loss, can raise water temperature and even helps conserve water. Also, encouraging staff to use cold water whenever possible also contributes to savings.
Letting it glow with LED lighting
Considering there’s a ban on traditional incandescent lighting in both Canada and the US now, why not upgrade all your lighting and enjoy savings immediately?
Completing energy assessments for your restaurant
In fact, we have a free Energy Audit for folks to complete. This can help target areas where you can improve the energy-efficiency of your food service establishment.
We also have incentives and rebates for businesses.
Image credit: AFS – Advanced Foodservice Solutions
