Energy Saving and the ETL

Energy Saving and the Energy Technology List (ETL)

As a foodservice operator, making your kitchen as efficient as possible is one of your main priorities. You want to have enough room to do everything safely, you want easy access to everything you need throughout the day and you want equipment that does everything you want consistently.  And of course equipment has a second level of efficiency that needs to be considered: how much energy it consumes.

 

Making sure your equipment is as energy efficient as possible just makes sense. Cutting down on operating costs is probably the main draw for most businesses, with the pressures of rising costs, staffing issues and fluctuating consumer confidence driving the uptake of equipment that costs less to run.

That equipment like this is often more sustainable is also advantageous, as it will help to meet your Net Zero obligations. But cutting through the marketing hype and finding the most energy efficient equipment can be tough. Energy labels can give you a good idea of each unit’s consumption but even within those categories there are degrees of difference. This is where the Energy Technology List (ETL) can help.

Created by the UK government, the ETL currently contains over 8,000 products that have been independently verified and accredited for their energy efficiency. The aim of the ETL list is to provide reliable information about equipment that has been quantifiably tested.  This helps businesses to meet their environmental objectives by allowing them to compare performance figures. Everything on the list is in the top 25% of the market for energy efficiency within its class.

In 2022 a new category was added to the list for professional foodservice equipment (PFE). At the moment this consists of combi ovens, convection ovens, refrigerators and dishwashers.  As these three represent some of the largest sources of energy and resource consumption in most kitchens, the addition of the PFE category marked an inflection point for the foodservice and catering industries.

 

The move away from gas and other fossil fuels will happen over the next couple of decades, and as demonstrated by their representation on the ETL, electric combi ovens can be extremely energy efficient. They are in many ways the product that best showcases the opportunities and benefits offered by embracing modern technology, with the multifunctionality and depth of control they offer allowing for multiple cooking techniques to be undertaken by a single piece of equipment.

The lack of combustible fuel for cooking helps to reduce your kitchen’s carbon emissions. The waste products cause by burning gas obviously contribute towards climate change, but more immediately they can cause health risks without adequate ventilation, which itself consumes more energy. In domestic kitchens that use gas cookers, nitrogen dioxide levels have been measured up to 400% higher than average, which has been linked with conditions like asthma and heart disease. This demonstrates why sufficient ventilation and air filtration systems are required in professional kitchens using gas or other fossil fuels. While ventilation is still a necessity in all-electric kitchens, the lower levels of dangerous chemical by-products of combustion mean that it can operate at a reduced capacity to its gas counterpart, driving further improvements in energy efficiency.

While they can cover a lot of ground, most kitchens do need other types of cooking equipment alongside combi ovens. The growth of the ETL’s professional cooking equipment category in the three years since it has launched demonstrates the commitment of equipment manufacturers to driving improvements in the efficiency of their products, as well as highlighting the increasing demand for equipment that meets the highest standards.

FEA has long appreciated the potential of the ETL as a key driver in the development of the sustainability of the foodservice and catering sectors, and has seen increased interest from its members in getting their equipment on the list.

To this end it has been working closely with ICF, the consulting firm administering the ETL for the government, helping to update criteria for product categories as well as helping to develop new initiatives. One of these initiatives is a payback calculator, which will help prospective buyers to calculate potential savings on different equipment based on running costs and energy savings.

Another new feature FEA is providing assistance with is an enhanced product finder, allowing buyers to select only equipment relevant to the foodservice sector. This will work in synergy with the newly added feature that allows suppliers to add supplemental information to product listings, such as technical manuals and BIM objects, with the aim of creating a resource that will give you accurate information about the energy efficiency of critical equipment before you buy it.

Just as the information the ETL provides access to is evolving, the next few years are likely to see an influx of new equipment types to the list, with induction systems one of the most likely additions once the testing criteria has been established.