urchasing Energy Star equipment may be one of the brightest ways to lighten the energy load in a kitchen. But is there a downside?

Is there is a tradeoff between the energy efficiency of an appliance and its overall performance? Will a standard efficiency fryer produce more French fries per hour than an Energy Star fryer? Unfortunately, the foodservice industry often perceives a loss of power with energy- saving equipment. My objective is to turn this perception around—and demonstrate that appliance performance goes hand in hand with energy efficiency.

Equipment testing at the PG&E Food Service Technology Center [www.fishnick.com] continues to show that the more effectively an appliance delivers heat from a gas burner or an electric element to the cooking medium or surface, the faster and more evenly it cooks food product. One does not have to accept slower cooking in exchange for higher efficiency. Think about a Prius hybrid speeding along the freeway at 75 mph, getting close to 40 mpg. Is performance, with respect to getting from point A to point B, really being compromised?

ENERGY EFFICIENCY DEFINED
Let’s delve a bit further into the concept of efficiency. The energy efficiency of a cooking appliance is defined as the percentage of energy actually delivered to the food product (in order to heat it to the desired temperature) divided by the amount of energy consumed by the appliance.

For example, if 20,000 Btu of energy are being consumed by the appliance, but only 10,000 Btu of heat are transferred into the food, then the cooking energy efficiency is 50 percent. This may appear to be an unrealistic example of low efficiency, but it is not. For many types of cooking equipment, the percentage of energy consumed by the appliance that actually makes it into the food product is even less. The typical gas burner on a range is about 35 percent efficient. This means 65 percent of the heat created by the burning blue flame is wasted. It simply travels up into the exhaust hood as heat without any useful contribution to the cooking process.

Here is a specific example: the common 15-inch wide, gas-fired deep fat fryer used in commercial kitchens around the world. What are the options? The big players in the fryer game all make a variety of models with a range in specifications and price. When perusing the catalogs, notice that the energy input rate for this category of fryer ranges from a low of 80,000 Btu per hour to as high as 130,000 Btu per hour.

Interestingly, the higher Btu-rated fryer is less expensive than the lower Btu fryer. Why? Because the lower Btu-rated fryer is actually the more efficient Energy Star model using better components and technologies. But here’s the classic sales pitch: “You can’t afford to give up performance for one of those Energy Star dogs—more Btu means more horsepower. Don’t risk a bottleneck in production by purchasing the energy-efficient model.” Wrong! More Btu means more heat is being thrown up the flue due to poor heat exchanger design. If you compare published performance data, it’s clear that a lower Btu Energy Star fryer produces as much food as the higher Btu, lower-efficiency fryer. So buying an Energy Star gas fryer is a no-brainer. Right? Well, maybe.

ROADBLOCKS
There are a few roadblocks when trying to select and purchase Energy Star equipment for a kitchen. The first challenge is that the Energy Star appliance may cost more than its standard efficiency competitor. It’s necessary to justify this incremental cost by estimating the value of the energy that will be saved over the equipment’s life cycle. Fortunately, the rules of the game are changing now that published performance data can be used to differentiate equipment efficiency and to estimate operating cost.

The next challenge comes upon realizing there are only four Energy Star categories that apply to commercial foodservice equipment, while a kitchen equipment line may have a dozen types of appliances.

Energy Star qualified models are currently listed for fryers, steamers, holding cabinets, and reach-in refrigerators or freezers. The Energy Star label may be used on dishwashers and ice machines by the end of the year and on griddles and convection ovens in 2008.

In the meantime, it’s necessary to be resourceful when ferreting out the energy efficiency equipment options for a kitchen. Don’t be afraid to ask dealers, reps, or foodservice consultants for their recommendations. Search the web. My professional recommendation is to use the PG&E Food Service Technology Center as a source of performance information. Check out their list of qualified products for energy-efficient rebates in California. Those operating a resort in Florida, for example, aren’t eligible for a rebate but will get the energy savings.

There is one more snag in this campaign to install energy-efficient equipment in a kitchen. In cases such as gas rangetops and underfired broilers, there really isn’t an energy-efficient option, much less an Energy Star label. The product literature suggests otherwise, but third-party test results demonstrate efficiencies in the 30 to 40 percent range for both of these appliances, regardless of the make and model. Someday, the need to create a complete line of energy-efficient cooking equipment may change this situation, but, for now, the best option is to encourage cooks to reduce the amount of time burners are left on when not being used to prepare food.

As I reflected in my first HOTEL F&B article (“The Hotel Kitchen, an [Energy] Saving Challenge,”January/February 2007), the energy in a hotel kitchen is consumed by dozens of pieces of equipment. Energy savings will be achieved on an appliance-byappliance basis. A multitude of individual strategies or appliance replacements must be considered, placing an ongoing demand on someone’s time within an organization, not to mention the operating budget. But where Energy Star exists, there isn’t a better place to start. Let the race [for a greener kitchen] begin.

Don Fisher, president/CEO of Fisher-Nickel, Inc., manages the Food Service Technology Center in San Ramon, California. This center collaborates with the Commercial Kitchen Ventilation Laboratory in Wood Dale, Illinois, to develop and apply standard test methods for evaluating the performance of foodservice equipment. The program is funded by California utility customers and administered by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission.