Energy management systems are becoming increasingly popular with quick-service restaurant operators as they work to control rising energy costs.
For example, Advanced Telemetry announced earlier this year that several QSR franchisees had installed its EcoView Commercial smart energy and resource management system. A Portland, Ore.-based multiunit Burger King operator, Seattle-based multi-location Taco Bell operator and a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based multiunit Arby's operator all purchased the system to manage energy and resource usage in real time. The system is designed to reduce utility bills by as much as 20 percent and realize returns on investment in as little as six months.
Other providers of energy management solutions also are showing QSR operators how the systems can save them moeny in unexpected places. Dallas-based Current Energy, for example, uses sensors not only to signal open doors to a freezer or walk-in cooler but in the drive-thru window, according to the Green Inc. blog in The New York Times.
From The New York Times:
Another often-overlooked energy user is the drive-through window, which is often propped open unnecessarily, letting air-conditioned air escape. Current Energy installs sensors on its projects that pull down an "air curtain" when the window has been open too long.
