Effects of operative behaviours and management planning on energy consumptions in kitchens

The ways in which individual catering appliances were used, as well as the planning of meal production, have been studied for five catering facilities (namely for 3 canteens, an hotel and a psychiatric hospital). For each kitchen, activity charts were deduced from the observed patterns of use of each appliance. Several of the identified practices, such as switching-on appliances well before necessary, incurred excessive energy consumptions. Other established habits, such as permitting inordinately-long cooking or holding periods for the food at elevated temperatures, increased energy consumptions and adversely affected the quality of the food produced. The undertaken surveys provided evidence for: 1. (i) the need to review existing practices within kitchens, in order to promote the adoption of more efficient operational procedures and equipment use; 2. (ii) the need, as a systematic requirement, to train staff in the effective uses of new appliances; 3. (iii) the incorporation of programmed timers to switch-on, as well as switch-off, equipment and so relieve staff of the worry that these items will not be at the desired temperatures (and so not be available for immediate use) when required; and 4. (iv) the removal from the kitchen of equipment which is no longer needed or is of low efficiency.