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FE&S LEED and Energy Star Webcast Follow Up Questions

More than 500 foodservice professionals registered for FE&S' Webcast: What Foodservice Professionals Need to Know about Energy Star and LEED. The free hour-long webcast featured a lively question and answer segment that saw participants quizzing panelists Tarah Schroeder of Ricca Newmark Design and Richard Young and David Zabrowski of the Food Service Technology Center about all things Energy Star and LEED.

Due to the high volume, our panelists were not able to respond to all of the questions posed during the webcast but have answered them here in writing. In addition, we at FE&S have added links a few recent articles that address Energy Star and LEED related issues for the foodservice industry.

FE&S would like to thank Tarah, Richard and David for lending their time and expertise to help keep our readers informed about Energy Star and LEED. And we would like to thank all of the foodservice professionals who took the time to listen to the webcast and send along their questions.

Resources

The Pros and Cons of LEED
Greening the Whole Process
Saving Energy through Equipment Startup Schedules
Embrace Your Reality
Update on Energy Star for the Foodservice Industry
Energy-Efficient Decision Making

General Questions

Where do you think induction technology fits in to LEED and Energy Star?

RY: Based on our testing, induction range tops are an efficient cooking technology that could be included in the process load calculations.

Is there a correlation between high-efficiency and quality? Does the Fishnick site provide any information on quality?

RY: The FSTC does not do any "quality testing" although we do include performance testing in our test procedures. Typically, high efficiency appliances perform better — producing more pounds of food per hour and showing better cooking uniformity.

Where can I go to help get my company into these programs? The information seems a bit spread out, which means I could use a roadmap, or a personal bus driver, if you will.

RY: The USGBC website has a lot of information on the LEED criteria and the Energy Star site has all the information on Energy Star qualified appliances for commercial kitchens. Finally, the FSTC site is a resource for energy-efficient appliances as well as online calculators and the LEED baselines.

Do these same tools work for EBOM (LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance)?

RY: Not really. EBOM is a different criteria and it currently is not a great fit for food service. EBOM for retail has been in development and will be part of LEED V4. Efficient appliances will still count toward total energy savings and LEED points but it is not as easy to prove savings in that LEED standard as NC (new construction) or CI (commercial interiors).

Is it worthwhile to install garbage disposals into a dishroom? Does installing disposals reduce the amount of waste that goes into a landfill?

RY: There is no one standard answer regarding commercial disposers in food service. Some jurisdictions like them and others do not. It depends on what is appropriate for the local land and water resources.