By now, everyone should have understood that we are heading for a serious ecological problem.

For this reason, environmentally relevant laws and regulations are being enacted on a large scale and at a rapid pace. On the one hand, this is welcome, as it is high time that countermeasures are taken. On the other hand, it can be observed that many projects require improvements or should not be implemented as planned. It is the task of the associations to intervene here and to stand by the politicians as an expert partner in order to find solutions together that are both effective and realistic.

The energy consumption of commercial kitchens can represent one of the larger sources of energy consumption in restaurants, hotels or even office buildings. Technically, there are many approaches to reduce the energy consumption of commercial kitchens and thereby contribute to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their operation. The technical aspects mentioned below are probably a kind of "smart readiness indicator" for kitchen systems, thresholds for the future of catering equipment.

Basically, the larger scale in professional catering can offer advantages in terms of energy efficiency in food preparation compared to the preparation of individual portions in domestic settings. The energy consumption is higher, but compared to the consumption in many individual households, the preparation of larger quantities can offer advantages in terms of energy consumption. Moreover, the higher functionality also serves the corresponding consumption.

At an appropriate level of utilisation, the energy consumption per pizza prepared in a professional oven can be lower than that of preparing a single pizza in a household oven. It should also be taken into account that the household oven only needs to be preheated for one pizza and the professional oven only once per service.

However, the power connection in kilowatts from the grid can be high and peak power can present a challenge. Power plants cannot run up and down without additional demands. Smart grids are becoming necessary to integrate renewable energies. Therefore, energy optimisation, digitalisation and Building Information Modelling (BIM) are important approaches to the future of professional kitchens.

Performance optimisation

Power optimisation can contribute to reducing the peak power demand and, depending on the applicable tariff model, to savings for the user. Reducing the load on electrical distribution networks is can be a contribution to smart grids. Our industry is working to internationalise the standard "Interface for energy optimisation in commercial kitchens" (DIN 18875) to meet the challenges of the Green Turn. Avoidance of high and expensive peaks are intended here, as the kitchen system is not always maintained up-to-date. Objectives in brief:

• Reducing the total connected load of the kitchen system. Depending on the system design, this may allow more appliances to be connected than usual.
• Balancing the kilowatt quantity. Peak power can be associated with higher costs and place additional demands on the energy supply (politicians should appreciate this point).
• Peak power calculation that switches appliances off and on for seconds only, to control peak power with as little impact on cooking performance as possible.

Another solution would be to implement electrical storage. Such systems could increasingly be used in larger buildings in the future. This could be charged by a photovoltaic system, a combined heat and power plant, but also from the electricity grid. Power peaks could then be partially absorbed by the electrical storage system.

Digitalisation

Digital services and more and more network-capable appliances show that the topic of digitalisation is becoming increasingly important in commercial kitchens and is shaping developments in commercial kitchen technology. Digitalisation lays the foundation for various use cases that can contribute to cost savings in the operation of commercial kitchens or support a more demand-oriented use of resources. It can provide opportunities to reduce energy consumption and, depending on the respective use case, support additional processes in food preparation.

Such digital services require open, standardised and manufacturer-neutral communication solutions. At the HKI association level, a basis for this was created with DIN SPEC 18898 "Equipment for commercial kitchens - Communication interface for commercial kitchens - OPC Unified Architecture". This standard lays the foundation for the integration of data from different devices (manufacturer-independent) into a neutral management system. Devices that use data as defined in this standard can be integrated more easily into already existing systems.

This results in numerous application possibilities:

• Communication between devices (e.g. only switch on smart kitchen ventilation when necessary).
• Communication of the appliances with the staff
• Communication of food with the equipment, monitoring and visualisation of processes
• Documentation and archiving of HACCP-relevant data (e.g. time and temperature curves)
• Provision of general equipment information
• Contribution to optimising energy use. Energy consumption should be visible, e.g. with a digital display of consumption, which can be the basis for trying out comparable cooking performances with less energy. This transparency can help to better assess energy consumption at comparable cooking performance and identify opportunities for optimisation.
• Integration into upstream and downstream systems, e.g. inventory

Circular economy and service life

The use of equipment is a business case for clients in the catering industry. There would be a loss of revenue if a unit were to break down. For this reason, commercial kitchen appliances are often designed for a long service life, repairability and corresponding service support. This is the starting point for establishing circular business models: Business models in the sense of product service systems or a "collaborative and sharing economy". In this way, a circular economy with closed product cycles could be introduced through return systems. The use is sold, the equipment itself should serve a higher purpose for the manufacturing company. This can create incentives to keep products in use for longer, support their shared or refurbished use and offer corresponding commercial guarantees. The EU pursues, among other things, the objective of supporting longer product lifetimes through better design and smart use. If appropriately designed, companies could design products for a longer service life and with resale potential. This can contribute to preserving value, avoiding waste and – depending on the respective product and usage model – reducing greenhouse gas emissions.