March was “sustainability month” around the FSTC. Thanks to the FSTC green team, we stepped up our in-house game and got our food waste composting program fully up and running. We also gave two Greener Restaurant Seminars, one in our NorCal shop and one down south at the beautiful new SDG&E Energy Innovation Center (http://sdge.com/eic). We were invited to contribute our knowledge to the upcoming National Restaurant Association Sustainability Report and we even helped a local high-school student with her own sustainability report. A common theme ran through all these activities: the greener restaurant is not a “feel-good fad” – sustainability is a technical challenge that is being embraced by the food service industry for solid business reasons.

The subject of “green” always generates a lot of dialogue and this was certainly the case in our Greener Restaurant seminars.  The FSTC speakers were joined by experts in recycling, composting, green building materials, green business certification and fat/oil/grease (FOG) pollution prevention. The discussion was deep, challenging, enlightening and above all, realistic. Here are some highlights:

• We were introduced to Alameda County’s ground-breaking Green Materials Rebate Program by Wes Sullens at StopWaste.org (www.StopWaste.org/SmallCommercial ). There have been incentives for water-conservation and energy-efficiency for years but the idea to offer rebates for green building materials is unique and forward thinking. Hopefully, this pilot project will blossom into standard practice for municipalities across the US. For a taste of this program in action check out Awaken Café in Oakland (http://www.awakencafe.com/)

• Paris Greenlee updated us on Bay Area Green Business Certification and explained how California Assembly Bill AB913 was helping this local initiative evolve into a statewide program (http://www.greenbusinessca.org/). California Green Business Certification is voluntary, free and verified by on-site visits from waste management, pollution prevention, and energy/water-efficiency experts.

• Ana Carvalho, environmental specialist with the City of San Diego, led a dynamic and passionate discussion on why food waste reduction-rescue-and-recycling are so important. Ana runs a well-organized and highly-effective commercial Food Waste Recycling (composting) Program (http://www.sandiego.gov/environmental-services/miramar/greenery/foodwaste.shtml) that turns garbage to gold in 10 weeks. But, she warned us, it is not without challenges. In an urban environment, they have to work smart to avoid odors and, to ensure top-quality compost, they are very selective about the waste they accept. The reality: about 63% of the commercially available compostable serving ware that Ana tested does not sufficiently biodegrade, so those items are still headed to the landfill. Ana’s take home was “Know the waste management best practices in your region.”

• Recycling specialist, Eric Wolff, impressed us with examples of the huge amount of landfill waste – San Diego’s garbage could fill Qualcomm Stadium in less than three weeks – and the list of typical excuses for not recycling. Yes there are still folks who tell Eric that they “don’t believe there is a need to divert material from the landfill.” Fortunately, Eric came armed with case studies and examples of real savings like the casual dining restaurant that saves over $2,000 a year with their recycling program. The County of San Diego offers consultations, referrals and free recycling containers to their customers (http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dpw/recyclinghome.html ). This is often the case, so check with your city/county to see what free resources are available for small commercial businesses and implement a smart plan. A successful recycling program should save you money.

• Fats, oils and grease (FOG) are environmental pollutants that clog up sewer lines and cause headaches for sewage treatment plants. Nadia Borisova with the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) is determined to educate restaurants about FOG and she shared EBMUD’s online materials (http://www.ebmud.com/fog ).

• Kong Sham from the FSTC’s green team talked about what it took to become a certified California Green Business. Kong and his colleagues, Lauren Mills and Todd Bell, rid the lab of dangerous chemicals, upgraded the space to more efficient lighting and set up recycling and composting. It wasn’t always easy but we’ve learned one big lesson: once you start going greener in your facility, you will develop a culture of sustainability and everyone will pitch in and embrace the process. It only takes one green champion to raise everyone’s awareness.

For those of you who could not come to these Greener Restaurant seminars, don’t fret, we’ve posted the handouts for the San Diego session online at http://www.fishnick.com/handouts/03132012/ and the Bay Area session at http://www.fishnick.com/handouts/03152012/ and we plan to do more of these seminars. Just like going greener, learning about sustainability is a step-by-step process that unfolds as you go forward.

This is an exciting week – perhaps even a tipping point in the path to efficient restaurant lighting. Soraa, a lighting company based in Fremont California (http://www.soraa.com/), officially announced their new product, an LED lamp so radical that’s it’s considered a “disruptive technology.” Soraa has created the holy grail of front-of-house lighting: a true LED equivalent to the 50 watt halogen MR16 lamp.

The FSTC staff actually got a sneak preview about a week before the release date but we had to hold our tongues until the actual product announcement. It was a long week! But, now we can tell the story and talk about how this will affect the restaurant world.

The most widely used decorative lamp in food service is the MR16 halogen – the small, bright, 2-inch diameter lamps often used as spots in dining rooms, bars, retail, wine sections…basically everywhere. The favorite flavor is the 50 watt version. For years, the LED industry has eyed the MR16 with envy and tried everything to produce a true solid state equivalent. The closest they could come was a pretty decent 35 watt, but it really didn’t have the attributes, like focus and intensity, of the real halogen MR16.

Soraa has changed all that by creating a new type of ultra-pure gallium nitride crystal that allows the LED package to be smaller and brighter while operating at a higher temperature. This LED is so small that it is considered a “point-source,” like the halogen lamp in an MR16. This is important: a point source can be focused with optics to produce a controlled, intense, beam of light.

Here are three design elements that make the Soraa lamp radical:

1. Heat sinks are critical to solid state lighting and the Soraa lamp uses an advanced heat sink design that creates a convective air-current to move the heat away from the electronics.
2. The electronics are designed to operate at a higher ambient temperature so the lumen (light) output of the lamp will not diminish in normal applications.  This is important because Soraa is driving 12 watts through a single LED chip!
3. White LEDs have a strong blue component that has to be overcome with optics in order to get a decent warm white. The Soraa lamp is based on a violet LED and it doesn’t have the “blue spike” so, color control is more effective and efficient – producing excellent color rendering and stability.

Did I mention that they look great?

Then there is the price which is expected to be in the mid-twenty dollar range. A quick calc shows about a one year payback for a lamp that is on about 10 hours a day – not counting the labor/maintenance savings you get from a 25,000 hour lamp.

By the way, you can do your own easy lighting calculations using the new FSTC Online Lighting Calculator at http://www.fishnick.com/saveenergy/tools/calculators/silampcalc.php .

The buzz around the FSTC lab has been electric. We can all think of dozens of applications for these lamps and are dying to get our hands on some to try out. Keep an eye on this blog for upcoming examples of real world installs.

The Food Service Technology Center (FSTC) has always been about two things: creating solid energy-efficiency data and sharing that information with the foodservice world in any way possible. Twenty plus years ago, when the FSTC was still in its infancy, we were already creating newsletters and articles– even though we barely had anything to report. Today, we find ourselves with an abundance of information that includes hundreds of reports, presentations, design guides, articles and online tools. Most of this info lives on the FSTC website at www.fishnick.com but a great deal of it also resides in the heads of the FSTC efficiency gurus.

We’re determined to share our knowledge and experience with you, so we created Beyond the Plate, the FSTC blog, as a fast and easy way to communicate our stories and insights.

Don’t have time to read through an entire design guide but need the real nuggets? Want to keep up with the latest in energy saving technologies? Curious about green building design? Wondering what you can do to operate a more sustainable restaurant? We’ll give you quick insights into all these subjects as well as sharing the answers to questions we get asked by your peers.

Beyond the Plate is the gateway into our world of energy and water efficiency.

This is a really exciting time at the Food Service Technology Center: the lab is running full bore with equipment tests and the field crew is monitoring new technologies in all kinds of different locations. We’re seeing the commercial food service world start to really embrace good energy and water practices. We’ve been at this for a long time and yet we still learn something new every day. Join us here at Beyond the Plate for a taste of the great things to come!

As the Food Service Technology Center enters its 25^th year, things around the lab couldn’t be more exciting. The feeling is that the first 25 years built the foundation and set the stage for the blossoming of efficient technologies that we are just starting to see. Here are 5 things to keep an eye on as 2012 develops.

• The Rack Oven test-lab has come alive as manufactures step up to the plate and send a whole new round of full-sized rack ovens for efficiency and performance evaluation. These are big, complex ovens and testing guru David Zabrowski will have his hands full fast-tracking these ovens through the lab. Look for new test reports at www.fishnick.com/publications/appliancereports/specialtyovens/.
• Rich Swierczyna has been testing a new hood design in the Commercial Kitchen Ventilation Lab. Preliminary results look good – better capture with less air – proving once again that there is always room for improvement in any kitchen technology. Look for that test report at www.fishnick.com/publications/appliancereports/hoods/index.php.
• The more we learn about hot water use, the more we are amazed at the amount of energy wasted and the potential for improvement throughout hot water systems. Two passions of research engineer, Amin Delagah, are solar thermal systems and heat recovery. Amin is running multiple field and lab testing projects aimed at proving the viability of these technologies. Capturing heat from the environment and re-claiming heat from the kitchen are two paths towards the net-zero kitchen of the future. Look for hot water research reports at www.fishnick.com/publications/waterheating/.
• The FSTC just completed the Ice Machine Upgrade and Load Shifting Field Study –  www.fishnick.com/publications/fieldstudies/. The results were really impressive; marking ice machines as a real potential for technology upgrades, dollar savings and potential utility rebates. Look for more built-in intelligent controls in ice machines as well as utility support for shifting these machines to off-peak hours.
• LED lighting is ready for prime time. It’s still the Wild West, in many ways, in the world of LED manufacturing but the DOE’s lighting facts® program is making it easier to specify and install products that will be cost effective and look good. With the advent of new incandescent lighting requirements and the introduction of LED “60 watt replacement” lamps like the Phillips AmbientLED – the world of food service lighting is going to change quickly and for the better. Join the FSTC’s Richard Young at the National Restaurant Association show for Lighting Up Your Bottom Line: LED Lighting for Maximum Return and Performance.

 The year 2012 marks the end of the FSTC’s first 25 and the start of the next 25. There is plenty to do and we’re looking forward to getting down to business. Our silver anniversary is not the end of the voyage, it’s just the beginning. So, stay tuned as we restock the ship and set sail for the adventures ahead.