Restaurants Go Green to Earn Green

I've profiled a green restaurant before here, but now it looks like there's going to be a nationwide effort to reduce restaurant waste, thanks in part to Ted Turner.

From USA Today:

The National Restaurant Association is unveiling a green restaurant initiative. The purpose is to convince restaurant owners that going green isn't just better for the environment - it's also better for business.

If the restaurant industry can dial down the enormous environmental damage it does daily even slightly, it would be huge. Restaurants are the retail world's largest energy user. They use almost five times more energy per square foot than any other type of commercial building, says Pacific Gas & Electric's Food Service Technology Center (FSTC).

Nearly 80% of the $10 billion dollars that the commercial food service sector spends annually for its energy use is lost in inefficient food cooking, holding and storage, says PG&E's tech division.

The average restaurant annually consumes roughly 500,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, 20,000 therms of natural gas and 800,000 gallons of water. Using the latest EPA carbon equivalents, that amounts to 490 tons of carbon dioxide produced per year per restaurant, PG&E estimates.

Then there's all that trash. Restaurants produce far more garbage on a daily basis than most other retail businesses. A typical restaurant generates 100,000 pounds of garbage per location per year, the Green Restaurant Association estimates.

Making It Greener
Tips for Greening Your Restaurant

Entryway
* Make sure doors close correctly, to reduce heating/cooling operation.
* Replace traditional exit signs with LED1 exit lighting.

Dining room
* Open window blinds in winter to help warm and light interior.
* Replace incandescent bulbs with CFL1 or LED1 lights.

Kitchen
* Clean appliances regularly for more efficient operation.
* Replace incandescent bulbs with CFL1 or LED1 lights.
* Turn off unused cooking hoods.
* Install motion detectors in storerooms and offices. Set lights on timers.

Refrigerator/freezer
* Install energy curtains in freezer rooms.

Dishwashing
* Serve customers water upon request. Run dishwashers, washing machines only when full.

Restrooms
* Install low-flow toilets and waterless urinals. Repair leaky faucets, toilets.
* Install motion detectors for lighting.

Building materials
* Use low-VOC1 or no-VOC1 paints, recycled flooring and managed forest wood. Install a reflective roof, skylights and energy-efficient windows.

Waste area
* Recycle paper, plastic, glass and aluminum.

1 - LED: Light-emitting diode; VOC: Volatile organic compounds; CFL: Compact fluorescent lamp; Source: National Restaurant Association