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Turning Your Restaurant Green

There is a growing number of ways to reduce your footprint on the planet.

What are all the hippest restaurants wearing this year? Green. It's the color of environmental responsibility and it's clearly hitting the mainstream.

From a pure public relations standpoint, going green is right up there with being trans-fat free. But there's more to it than just jumping on the trend train. Don't know where to start? Here are some ideas.

Alternative energy
Clean, green energy options like wind, solar, solar thermal and geothermal energy are catching on. Technologies have improved, supply is growing and tax credits and rebates from federal and many state governments can help offset the costs of conversion/installation.

Biodegradable takeout containers
Biodegradable products—paper-based or plastic-like containers made from corn resin, potato starch or sugar cane byproducts—disintegrate completely and safely when composted

Clean condenser coils
Cleaning dirty air-conditioning and refrigeration coils can save 25 percent in operating costs and help prevent early compressor failure, according to Pacific Gas & Electric.

Diesel conversion
Some restaurants are converting their vehicles' engines to run on used fryer oil.

Energy Star
A voluntary labeling program that's a joint effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Star makes it easy to identify products that have proved to be energy-efficient. Qualified products can save as much as 50 percent over their conventional counterparts, according to the EPA.

Fluorescent lights, compact
According to the EPA and DOE, compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) use at least two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. They also generate 70 percent less heat, so they're safer to operate and can cut air conditioning costs.

Excerpted from Restaurant Business’ MonkeyDish.com

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