Environmental Impacts Of A Training Kitchen: Key Factors, Hazards And Recommendations

The key factors in a training kitchen that have environmental impacts are- disposition of the wastes, consumption of energies, excessive use of water and use of electricity.

Details of the environment hazards

Details of all the environmental impact

Environmental impact of the organizations current purchasing strategies

where the information has been gathered

Summaries of the evidence obtained.

Recommendations for improvement activity

Key factors in a training kitchen that have environmental impacts

The key factors in a training kitchen that have environmental impacts are- disposition of the wastes, consumption of energies, excessive use of water and use of electricity.

• The training kitchen consumes more energy than any other places .The refrigerators uses energy. The fossil fuel that is used in cooking can cater to the consumption of the non renewable sources of energy
• Restaurants use water as much as 25,000 gallons each day and a normal sit down restaurant uses 3000 to 7000 gallons of water a day, with an average of about 5,800 gallons of water every day.
• Carbon monoxide can be an invisible gas that can be emitted from the gas stoves which can be emitted from the gas stoves, when the appliances are misused and misadjusted.
• The Radon gas is a radioactive gas that can sometimes collect in the kitchens. The gas is mainly found in water and is emitted when the water is agitated or while washing dishes. The gas is not detectable by smell, taste and sight.
• Another pollutant that is released from the ventilation system of the restaurant is smoke that can cater to the respiratory problem and asthmatic symptom.
• One of the fast acting pollutants released from the ventilation of the restaurant is the grease, which comes from a fryer. The grease can settle on the surrounding buildings and the buildup grease can cause fire hazards
• Food waste represents great waste of the fresh water and the ground water resources. Its environmental impact is profuse as a large number of energy and natural resources are spent in the processing, transportation, storage and cooking. Furthermore the food wastes got from the kitchen wastes that can ultimately end up to the landfills producing a large amount of methane.

• The key factors in a training kitchen that have environmental impacts are- disposition of the wastes, consumption of energies, excessive use of water and use of electricity.
• Each year the wasted food guzzles up a water volume equal to the annual volume of the Volga river of Russia and adds up to 3.3 billion tones of the green house gases in the atmosphere.
• Due to the wastage of water nearly thousands of dollars are going down the drain. About $8000 accounts to about the water consumption in the restaurants over the world.

The information has been gathered by doing a survey over the training kitchen and going through the electricity, energy and the water bills. One week’s survey has been conducted to record the daily routines of the chefs and the staffs. Amounts of energy consumed have been calculated by the gas bills and the rate of stocking out of the gas cylinders. The electricity consumption data was collected from the distribution board current transformers. The energy consumption pattern of each of the utensils is collected. The electric profile of each of the electric devices is critical to the real time energy demand forecast.

The water consumption is recorded by monitoring the dipper wells for the ice creams and other utensils, by monitoring the ice machines, by monitoring the rate of flow from the tap, by checking whether there are automatic shut off faucets or not. The food wastage is again checked by the number of orders served and the left over foods in the plates of the customer. It is also monitored by checking the food bins by the side of the restaurants.

The hospitality sector is mostly under the pressure for responding to the requirement of the guests and to prepare the food according to their needs. Hence responsible food purchasing is required to taking step towards the sustainability.

According to the record, the concerned restaurant is looking towards maintaining the sustainability of the kitchen. They normally buy the products in bulk, locally so that less energy is lost due to the transportation and storage. It would also support the farmers of the developed country a fair deal. They have taken up the green procurement policies. They have achieved healthy consumer relationship, increased customer loyalty and improved quality of food with time. The restaurant normally uses paper bags instead of plastic. They normally avoid the airfreight food.

As per the sustainability checklist, there are no leaking taps nor the taps are kept running during the washing of dishes. Washing up is done in larger bowls catering to use of more water that can be reduced by washing in small bowls. Sometimes hot water more than 70 degree consumes huge amount of energy. Ovens are slow to heat up which consumes a huge amount of energy, although ovens are not switched on for the whole day. The flours left on the floor after the sieving is used up. Food wastage has been recorded by the available food in the waste bin. Some of the foods are often recycled indicating the conservation of some food. The refrigerators worked well indicating that unused foods can be stored. The surplus dough is used for the next day and is stored under proper refrigerating conditions. Some of the food ingredients are bought locally. Wastage of cleaning materials has been noticed.

The mixers are used for a couple numbers of times for mixing ingredients consuming a large amount of energy.

• T5 fluorescent lights can be used, compact fluorescent gloves can be used, compact fluorescent globes and LED lamps can be used in order to save electricity. Energy can be saved by improving the HVAC system efficiency.
• The customers as well as the staffs should be notified about the clauses of the conservation of water. The taps should be properly closed and any leakages should be checked.
• There should be ample recycle bins for the proper disposal of the kitchen wastes. Food and supplies should be taken from the local producers. The restaurant should lessen their ' food footprint ' by detecting where the food waste had occurred. The fruits that are not in shape that are not in shape might not be bad and still can be brought and used in dishes like soup. The restaurants and the customers are also requested to buy food according to the meal plan, such that no food is wasted. In case of food surplus it can be reused within the human food chain.
• It is advisable to use the environment friendly and the garden supplies.
• It is advisable to check the flow rates of the taps in order to waste unnecessary water, the hot water temperature should not be set too high.
• It is advisable not to use the lengthy drying cycles, shortening the drying time and heat produced by the dishwasher for drying the contents.
• In order to conserve the energy it is advisable to turn off the equipments not in use. It has been found out that an un-insulated food holding cabinet kept open overnight can cost $500 in a year. Switching of the door of the refrigerator or checking the temperature setting of the refrigerator, replacing the air filters of the air-conditioning systems , checking the economizer, addition of the side panels of the exhaust hood, maintaining the panels of the AC units of the roof tops.

References

Zheng, Xinye, et al. "Characteristics of residential energy consumption in China: Findings from a household survey." Energy Policy 75 (2014): 126-135.

Bonino, Dario, Fulvio Corno, and Luigi De Russis. "Home energy consumption feedback: A user survey." Energy and Buildings 47 (2012): 383-393.

Tsai, Kang-Ting, et al. "Carbon dioxide emissions generated by energy consumption of hotels and homestay facilities in Taiwan." Tourism Management 42 (2014): 13-21.

Shafiei, Sahar, and Ruhul A. Salim. "Non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions in OECD countries: A comparative analysis." Energy Policy 66 (2014): 547-556.

Nilsson, Andreas, et al. "Effects of continuous feedback on households’ electricity consumption: Potentials and barriers." Applied Energy 122 (2014): 17-23.

Ren, Zhengen, et al. "A model for predicting household end-use energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in Australia." International Journal of Sustainable Building Technology and Urban Development 4.3 (2013): 210-228.

Tang, Fu Ee. "A study of water consumption in two Malaysian resorts." World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 68 (2012): 1162-1167.

Zheng, Xinye, et al. "Characteristics of residential energy consumption in China: Findings from a household survey." Energy Policy 75 (2014): 126-135.

Shafiei, Sahar, and Ruhul A. Salim. "Non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions in OECD countries: A comparative analysis." Energy Policy 66 (2014): 547-556.

Bonino, Dario, Fulvio Corno, and Luigi De Russis. "Home energy consumption feedback: A user survey." Energy and Buildings 47 (2012): 383-393.

Tsai, Kang-Ting, et al. "Carbon dioxide emissions generated by energy consumption of hotels and homestay facilities in Taiwan." Tourism Management 42 (2014): 13-21.

Nilsson, Andreas, et al. "Effects of continuous feedback on households’ electricity consumption: Potentials and barriers." Applied Energy 122 (2014): 17-23.

Ren, Zhengen, et al. "A model for predicting household end-use energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in Australia." International Journal of Sustainable Building Technology and Urban Development 4.3 (2013): 210-228.

Nilsson, Andreas, et al. "Effects of continuous feedback on households’ electricity consumption: Potentials and barriers." Applied Energy 122 (2014): 17-23

Tang, Fu Ee. "A study of water consumption in two Malaysian resorts." World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 68 (2012): 1162-1167.