The following is a summary of one chef's experience with their recent engagement with energy management and the PG&E program. The narrative provides candid comments about what portions of the program took a little while to get started, and which portions of the program were difficult to understand. The good news is the endorsement of the energy audit walk-through, and the validation of the energy savings for the restaurant.
In the first week of March, 2010 I called PGE to set up an appointment to have our energy use analyzed. It took about a week to hear back from PGE, and then we scheduled to meet the following week. The representative from PGE was Joshua Frederiksen and he was accompanied by a representative, Todd Bell, from a third party company, Fisher Nickel. Fisher Nickel is a company that PGE uses to analyze the energy usage as well as make recommendations to save money. There was a walk-through of the restaurant done, where Todd Bell looked at equipment, lighting and hardware. Suggestions were made on the spot and I was told that I would also be receiving a report based on his visit, which we did receive.
Joshua Frederiksen, from PGE, also brought a detailed explanation of our current gas and electric usage and bill rates. There are 5 different " billing schedules" that PGE bills on, based on usage. Currently, we are being billed on A1 Schedule billing. Mr. Frederiksen explained the different schedules and how they can affect our bill. While he didn't tell me to switch to a different billing schedule, he did point out that on certain meters in our restaurant we could find significant savings. (He stated that he could only educate me to make a decision, but could not tell me to do it). He suggested our savings could be greatest if we were on the E19SV schedule, which is billed based on peak and non peak usage. I will be honest and say that it was very confusing to understand their reports, and I even had Mr. Frederiksen come back for a second meeting to review the rates again, trying to get a better grasp on the savings.
We have the potential savings of about 1500 dollars a year by simply switching rate schedules.
The most useful part of the meeting, to me, was the walk through that we had with Todd Bell. He touched base on almost all "energy users" in the restaurants. He also brought with him low flow sprayers for our dish washing equipment, and changed them out on the spot free of charge. Below are some of the key notes that I took based on our walk through:
- Clean all coils in refrigeration units
- Wipe all gaskets with a warm towel. This extends the lifetime of the gasket
- Clean behind fan motors for build up
- Put a timer on the ice machine. This will prevent it from making ice when it is full and not in use
- Turn on/off espresso grinder and machine at certain times, especially when closed. He explained that the espresso machine pulls a ton of energy
- Keep most lights off during the day. The restaurant has great natural light, and does not need many lights on during the hours we are closed for business
- Consider dimmer switches in the bathrooms
- Change our bathroom lights to a lower wattage
- Put low flow heads on the bathroom and kitchen sinks
- Wrap piping on hot water pipe on water heater
- Every 6 months release some water out of the water tanks to prevent silt from building up
Mr. Frederiksen left me with all the information discussed, as well as rebate booklet to use when purchasing new equipment. He also offered to do an analysis during the construction of our new restaurant, as to start off there on the "right foot".
I found the information somewhat hard to understand, especially in dealing with the different rate schedules, but I felt the walk through was extremely informative and beneficial. I do feel that it took a long time to get the appointment set up, as well as receive the written report back from our walk through.
From the experience I learned details about energy management and have begun implementing the various recommendations, including changing my electric rate schedule.
