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The Grass is Always Greener...
With more than one third of the nation’s restaurant industry and supply chain thinking green, it is difficult to ignore the subject of social responsibility. Our work, in partnership with our customers’ commitment to sustainability and the environment will command a profound and solid obligation to social responsibility. It is ethically essential to the foodservice industry.
Electrical energy use is a restaurants’ largest direct environmental impact—and in turn incurs a significant cost. Effectively managing electrical energy is one of our highest environmental priorities. Operators are constantly being asked to help reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, conserve natural resources, and advance long-term, profitable growth—all at the same time. Our approaches to educating our customers’ electrical energy management vary from market to market, depending on opportunities for improvements in operations, available technological options and relative energy costs.
Here are some ways you can help create & maintain a socially responsible operation:
*Explore the possibility of securing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for new foodservice operations.
*Actively seek more sustainable refrigerant alternatives to replace the prevailing hydro fluorocarbon (HFC) industry standard. FE&S (Food Service Equipment & Supplies) has a monthly newsletter on “When to Replace” your foodservice equipment.
*Take a position on recycling. Research the environmental impacts of the materials you use from selection, production and transportation to your operation and consider everything you have for reuse and recycling.
*Consider organic materials, like used cooking oil and the packaging in which products arrive at your restaurants, mainly corrugated paper containers. Target your waste management programs accordingly.
*Actively seek more sustainable refrigerant alternatives to replace the prevailing hydro fluorocarbon (HFC) industry standard. FE&S (Food Service Equipment & Supplies) has a monthly newsletter on “When to Replace” your foodservice equipment.
*Take a position on recycling. Research the environmental impacts of the materials you use from selection, production and transportation to your operation and consider everything you have for reuse and recycling.
*Consider organic materials, like used cooking oil and the packaging in which products arrive at your restaurants, mainly corrugated paper containers. Target your waste management programs accordingly.
Like everyone in our industry, we are now bombarded with requests for Energy Star appliances. These are typically more efficient and will generally cost less to operate. However, like the per –gallon ratings for gas mileage on cars, you have to take the energy-use estimates on the label with a grain of salt. For example lighting and icemakers are among the hidden energy drains not factored into energy–use figures when looking at Energy Star ratings on refrigerated units. Special settings, such as the pots-and pans cycle on dishwashers often use more energy than regular settings used to estimate energy use. To help those looking to “Go Green” and lessen their impact on the environment, the NRA (National Restaurant Association) has launched a green initiative called "Conserve". The website has information on “green” practices, articles about conservation, tips to conserve energy and other useful tools.
So, what does it all mean today and more importantly for tomorrow? The grass is greener if you work to not only meet, but exceed the opportunities in front of us.