Tips to Conserve Energy

by Chris DeFilippo

According to statistics provided by Conserve, an environmental initiative of the National Restaurant Association: Restaurants use five times more energy per square foot than other commercial buildings and five times more energy in the kitchen than in the rest of the building. [And those] energy costs represent 30% of a typical building’s annual budget. Spending on utilities consumes approximately 2.5 to 3.4% of total restaurant sales.

Furthermore, as much as 80% of the $10 billion annual energy bill for the commercial food service sector does no useful work, according to Mass Save and the Food Service Technology Center (FSTC). With that in mind, here are a few tried and true tips every restaurateur and general manager should know to help conserve propane use and lower their bill.

First, maintain your equipment properly and perform regular service checks. A certified technician trained to perform routine maintenance on appliances can help ensure they are operating efficiently. Once you’ve done that it may be worth looking into buying more efficient appliances and adjusting the way you operate them. Using the FSTC’s tool for measuring energy efficiency cost savings, it is possible for restaurants to save significantly. Energy and cost saving estimates use the following assumptions:

• Propane energy cost = $2.908 per Therm
    (based on EIA 2011 U.S. winter (Oct-Mar) average price per gallon of $2.675)
• Equipment use per day = 16 hours
• Equipment use per year = 365 days

Tactic	Energy Savings	Cost Savings
Purchase an Energy Star® gas steamer	Up to 2,090 Therms per year	$ 6,077.72
Purchase an Energy Star® gas fryer	Up to 450 Therms per year	$ 1,308.60
Purchase a high-efficiency gas combination oven	Up to 400 Therms per year	$ 1,163.20
Turn off the broiler when not needed	Up to 360 Therms per year by turning it off for one hour every day	$ 1,046.88
Purchase a high-efficiency gas convection oven	Up to 320 Therms per year	$ 930.56
Purchase a high efficiency gas griddle	Up to 80 Therms per year	$ 232.64
Total	Up to 3700 Therms per year	$ 10,759.60

Chris DeFilippo is a Product Manager with AmeriGas.