Alternative Energy Heating Up
-- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 6/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
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Foodservice companies can add one more option to their green repertoires: Alternative energy. Also referred to as renewable energy, this energy source comes from wind, sun, and even commercial cooking oil instead of natural gas and fuel. Investing in alternative energy helps prevent depletion of precious, natural resources as well as reduce environmental strain associated with natural resource cultivation. From a business perspective, it also helps save energy costs.
Here are a few examples of how operators are using alternative energy.
Wind Power
What It Is: Foodservice operators can engage in wind power by purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) from a local energy company, or by installing a wind turbine directly on the premises.
Who's Doing It: Many agree that Pacific Northwest-chain Burgerville helped pioneer the move to use wind power. Since the company's decision to do so years ago, both chain and independent restaurants have followed suit, including those listed here:
McDonald's Brazil installed a wind turbine in the northern city of Fortaleza. McDonald's France and McDonald's Brazil continue to test the use of solar energy to heat water.
Chipotle installed a wind turbine on the roof of its Gurnee, Ill. location, which is seeking LEED Platinum certification. The turbine generates 10 percent of the restaurant's power.
Six Feet Under, a pub and restaurant in Midtown, Atlanta, erected a 45-foot-tall wind turbine as a way to further support the environment and save energy costs. The turbine is expected to generate 200 to 400 kilowatt-hours per month of energy, which could amount to a $40-per-month savings on the restaurant's power bill, according to wind energy supplier Soenso Energy.
LuLu's at Homeport Marina in Gulf Shores, Ala., also installed a 45-foot-tall wind turbine designed to shave 25 percent to 40 percent off the energy bill. The turbine operates 24 hours a day and generates energy when wind speeds reach 8 miles per hour or greater.
Popular restaurant White Dog Café in Philadelphia gets all of its power from Pennsylvania wind farms.
Other Resources: American Wind Energy Association
Solar Power
What It Is:Similar to wind power, foodservice companies can access solar energy using two different methods. They can purchase renewable energy credits from energy suppliers or install solar panels on the roof of their facility.
After harvesting the energy, restaurants and other foodservice operators can use it for general energy use or as part of a solar hot water system. The latter approach preheats the restaurant's incoming cold water by first, collecting heat from the sun through solar collectors, or panels, then a heat exchanger and pump transfers the heat to the incoming water, and the foodservice operator can then use the preheated water in its facility's general hot water system.
Foodservice operators can realize a pretty quick return when they invest in solar energy. For example, the Energy Trust of Oregon, Inc., offers cash incentives, and foodservice operators can take advantage of state and federal tax credits. With these incentives, up-front investments can be paid back in less than five years, according to the Trust. Other states, including California, offer similar incentives.
Who's Doing It:
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McDonald's Germany continues to test solar photovoltaic panels, which use the sun's energy to produce electricity.
Whole Foods Market tripled the number of its stores with solar panels as part of a commitment to offset 100 percent of its use of non-renewable electricity with alternative energy. Since the first installation at its Berkeley, Calif., store in 2002, more than 30 stores soon will feature the solar panels on the rooftops; the company plans to have a total of 70 solar-equipped locations. In addition to solar panels, Whole Foods purchased 2 million megawatt hours of renewable energy credits from wind farms.
Estela's Mexican Restaurant in Brandon, Fla., installed a solar-power system that uses a combination of waste cooking oil and solar panels to cool its facility, the restaurant said. The total cost of all of the equipment amounted to approximately $300,000.
Plumed Horse restaurant in Saratoga, Calif. uses solar panels that resemble designer-produced skylights, which generate energy from the sun. During the 30-year life of the system, the restaurant said it expects to avoid releasing 82,581 pounds of carbon dioxide, 76 pounds of nitrogen oxide and 22 pounds of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.
Other Resources: Pacific Gas & Electric
Biofuel and Biodiesel
What It Is: Restaurants that accumulate large amounts of used cooking and frying oil can send it to rendering plants, where it becomes “yellow grease.” This yellow grease can serve as biofuel or biodiesel in place of traditional petroleum-based fuels to power cars, trucks and other vehicles. In addition, at least one manufacturer puts used fryer oil through a four-step filtering process inside a six-feet-wide by two-feet-thick box, converting it into energy for general or water-heating use. According to the maker, a restaurant consuming an average 70 gallons of frying oil per week can save around $800 per month on energy bills with this system. And, according to the National Biodiesel Board, yellow grease replaces tens of millions of barrels of petroleum each year, which reduces carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and other harmful emissions.
Who's Doing It:
As with its wind-power use, Burgerville is considered a pioneer on the biodiesel front but the number of other restaurants investigating the technology remain surprisingly low. Pipes attached to the fryers at Burgerville restaurants send used oil to larger containers outside, where trucks from a local biodiesel rendering plant hook up their hoses, collect the oil, and haul it away. The setup allows Burgerville to save on the high cost of hauling away the grease, while also serving as a revenue generator as more biodiesel producers compete for grease.
Finz Seafood & Grill in Salem, Mass., uses the on-site rendering equipment as a partial energy source for its kitchen. As a result, owner George Carey said the restaurant has reduced its energy needs by 10 percent. Finz Seafood spans 15,000 square feet.
The Eat Drink Laugh Restaurant Group in Boston, which operates The Blarney Stone, West on Centre Restaurant, The Paramount and The 21st Amendment, all participate in a program where offsite oil vendors pick up the oil and convert it for use vehicle fuel.
Harvard University's foodservice program also has a fryer waste-oil system that pumps fryer oil directly to a holding tank at its loading docks. Campus delivery trucks pull up and vacuum the waste oil for use as biodiesel.
Other Resources: The National Biodiesel Board
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