Green Makes Cents, AIR Expo

The AIR Green Team Growth of a Green Movement in

Asheville Restaurants

How we got started

•  3 original restaurants in the AIR Green Team in 2009

– Green Sage – Randy Talley – RoseAa’s Kitchen – RoseAa Star – Corner Kitchen – Kevin Westmoreland

•  Goal was to educate and provide basic, easy to implement ways for restaurants to save energy or reduce waste.

What is “Green”?

•  Sustainability – as it relates to:

-‐  Environment (Planet) -‐  Business (Profit) -‐  Community (People)

Planet – Profit – People

Simple things first

•  No styrofoam •  Recycling •  Basic lighWng changes •  ComposWng

•  Door seals •  InformaWon about Energy Star appliances

The Second Stage

•  Green Restaurant AssociaWon –  In 2009 there were only 3 GRA cerWfied restaurants in NC. One – Posana Café – was in Asheville.

–  There are only 78 restaurants in the NYC metro area that are cerWfied (out of over 14,000) or .6%. 24 restaurants in Chicago, 19 in Los Angeles (in each of these metro areas several are chains)

– We have 15 AIR restaurants in the process of being cerWfied out of less than 350 restaurants in Buncombe County or 4%

GRA partnership

•  AIR Green Team worked with GRA to see what it would take to get a group of restaurants cerWfied

•  AIR negoWated a rate that is less than a third of what the normal rate to become cerWfied was in 2009

•  Monthly billing – a large plus for the smaller restaurants

•  Local assistance with cerWficaWon •  AIR secured the same rate as the current restaurants received – the next 10 restaurants should sign up this month!

Goal

Asheville will be America’s first Green Dining DesWnaWon

Third Stage

•  Funding for larger scale environmental changes for the AIR restaurants

•  BRSI/AIR partnership won a NC Green Grant in the amount of $258,000 matched by $100,000 from 17 restaurants

•  BRSI and AIR are looking for funding to help green other restaurants.

What did the grant do?

•  It taught us how to beAer manage energy –BTU reducWon through solar panels, lighWng upgrades, insulaWon, new refrigeraWon systems other basic energy savings installs

•  Job creaWon •  EducaWon component – resources on the BRSI website available to all restaurants

  The biggest $ savers   Reduces excess heat

Not always this simple:

LighWng Retrofits

High Efficiency Water HeaWng Your Restaurant probably uses at least 250,000 – 500,000 gallons of hot water each year

 High-‐efficiency water heaters  Low-‐flow spray nozzles

Renewable Energy

•  7 Solar InstallaWons totaling 42 best-‐in class, made-‐in NC solar hot water collectors

Start Small

•  Behavioral changes •  Low-‐flow fixtures •  Programmable Thermostats

= Not the first step!

Good Press

•  Front page arWcles in Asheville CiWzen Times •  More on the front page of Mountains •  Mountain X, other print media, and TV coverage of Green.

•  Buncombe County Environmental Leadership Award

•  Keep your eyes open for naWonal coverage!

Why Go Green?

•  79% of consumers prefer to dine at green cerWfied restaurants – 2010 Technomic Survey

•  Only 6% of consumers trust self-‐verified green claims •  94% trust third-‐party verified claims •  More than 82% of would decrease or stop going to a restaurant that falsely claimed to be green

Why Get CerWfied?

What is CerWficaWon?

•  EducaWonal path to green •  Third-‐party verificaWon of green

•  Minimum benchmarks in mulWple categories: – Energy – Water – Waste – Chemical reducWon – Sustainable Food – Disposables

•  Opened March 1, 2008 with mission to be environmentally-‐friendly and health conscious. We serve only natural & organic foods and beverages.

•  Received GRA 3 Star CerWficaWon in 2011. •  Opened second locaWon in South Asheville on Nov 10, 2011 with the goal to be one of the first Four Star CerWfied Green Restaurants in the US.

The Green Sage •  First Downtown Asheville Restaurant to uWlize Solar Thermal Panels

•  Goal was to produce half of our hot water BTU’s with solar energy

Signage

•  Downtown Sign made from Junkyard Scrap Metal

Signage

•  Sign in our South LocaWon uses 100% LED LighWng

Finishes •  Both stores uWlize reclaimed wood from old houses and barns

•  Water-‐based No/Low VOC paints, stains and polyurethane.

•  Locally made Concrete Counters uWlizing local materials

LED LighWng •  South locaWon 95% LED LighWng

•  All lighWng and signage could fit on one 20 Amp circuit

•  5 year warranty, 20 year lifespan, cost down to $20-‐$50/bulb

•  Color rendiWon is near perfect

•  Kitchen lighWng is bright and white

RefrigeraWon •  South store uWlizes a rack system with 4 compressors outdoors. 1 for medium temp devices. 1 for each Freezer. 1 backup.

•  All refrigeraWon equipment was ordered without compressors. All devises connected to remote compressors outdoors. Approximately 100,000 BTU’s removed from restaurant environment saving 8 tons of AC.

•  New Digital Scroll Medium-‐temp compressor operates 8 devices. More efficient, reduce electrical cost by about half, reduces repair and maintenance cost.

•  Ice Machine Condenser remoted outdoors.

RefrigeraWon

•  Rack System and Remote Condenser for Ice Machine mounted on outside roof

Solar Thermal Panels

•  6 Hi Effeciency Solar Thermal Panels Flush Mounted to Slate Roof

•  Designed to look like Sky Lights

Hot Water System—3 Tanks •  Heat Reclaim from RefrigeraWon, Solar Thermal and Hi Efficiency Natural Gas •  Goal to produce 80% of hot water with reclaimed and solar heat

Reduce Hot Water •  Use high efficiency Apex HT dishmachine —uses only .92 gallons per rack by using hot water rinse water to clean next rack. Typical dishwasher uses 1.5 gallons. Saves about 40% more hot water.

Reduce Water Usage

•  Waterless Urinal •  Saves 40,000 Gallons/Yr

Whole House Water Filter

•  Filters out Sediment and Chlorine

•  Long lasWng •  Eliminates need for disposable filters on ice machines and brewing equipment

Waste Handling Program •  No Dumpster Downtown •  Composted since day one – 2009 contracted with Danny’s Dumpster to remove compost, recyclables and landfill waste

– 70% of our waste is •  compost

– Vegetable Oil—picked up by Blue Ridge Biofuels

Recycling & Compost Center

•  Compost •  BoAles & Cans •  Newspaper & Magazines

•  Landfill •  Customer love it!

Reduce Waste—Encourage Reusing & ComposWng

•  Real Plates, Mugs, Glasses & Silverware in house

•  Use only compostable To Go supplies – Cups, To Go containers, Napkins, Potato Starch Cutlery

•  Promote the use of reusable containers – Stainless Water BoAles – Stainless Steel and Ceramic Travel Mugs

Energy Savings

•  Our combined energy costs downtown run about $20,000

•  Aver 5 months, our south locaWon, with LED lighWng, Rack RefrigeraWon system, solar and heat reclaim hot water system is running about 25% below our downtown store. We expect to save at least $5,000/year on energy costs in our new locaWon.

How do I get involved? •  Contact the AIR Green Team –  Randy Talley, [email protected], –  Kevin Wesmoreland, [email protected] –  Peter Pollay, [email protected]

•  Contact BRSI: Tim Ballard [email protected]

•  Visit www.blueridgesustainability.org for more informaWon

Presented at the WNC Culinary Expo April 16, 2012 Go Green!

says the Green Team!