Catering Equipment – Energy Saving

Energy efficiency is not a very important factor to most when purchasing catering equipment.  However, this equipment still uses large amounts of energy especially the larger appliances such as ovens, grills and other kitchen appliances.  At the moment there are currently no industry standards which apply to energy efficiency for caterers. Therefore it is the caterer’s responsibility to make educated guesses as to what equipment to use and when to use it. There is no way at the current moment to make a comparison between competing catering equipment.

New research carried out by carbon trust has estimated that catering companies can save up to 250 million pounds each year. This is due to companies using inefficient equipment and altering their menus to save more on their energy bills.

“Sector can significantly reduce costs and carbon impact by using more efficient equipment and changing behaviors”, says Carbon Trust

One method of making more energy saving choices is to purchase more energy-efficient equipment thus reducing your carbon footprint and retaining capital which would otherwise be wasted on unneeded energy. Simply replacing refrigerators with Energy Technology List standard models would produce annual savings of £13m and 56,000 tonnes of CO2 nationwide.

Another way to cut down energy costs is to train staff how to use their cooking and dish-washing more efficiently and effectively. Carbon trust has said this can reduce costs by £35m and cut 173,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

So think again when purchasing catering equipment and appliances and make sure that if you are purchasing second hand catering equipment that they are energy efficient choices as it can cost you more in the long run if they aren't.