With an increasing number of companies prioritizing environmental stewardship, we’ve seen a growing trend in facility operators looking to reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This can be achieved through a variety of ways, but today we’ll focus on how to effectively decarbonize commercial kitchens.

The goal of decarbonizing kitchens is to achieve net zero carbon, or carbon neutrality, by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Electrification of commercial kitchens refers to the process of replacing gas appliances with electric.

But electrifying a kitchen is only one step in achieving complete decarbonization. Several overlooked carbon contributors can impact an overall decarbonization strategy and reduce your chances of achieving ENERGY STAR certification. ENERGY STAR is a government-backed certification for energy efficiency that more than 39,000 commercial buildings, comprising more than 5.8 billion square feet have earned for leading in high efficiency.

And while not all facility operators want to earn an ENERGY STAR certification, most hope to achieve eco-efficiencies, and as it relates to commercial kitchens, investing in ENERGY STAR-certified appliances is a good start. However, to truly decarbonize your commercial kitchen requires more than just switching to induction cooking and upgrading appliances.

Here are a few undercover carbon contributors to consider when decarbonizing a commercial kitchen.

Fugitive emissions are leaks of dangerous gases, most commonly from refrigerants and natural gas. When working towards decarbonizing a kitchen, it’s important to assess the most common culprits for emitting fugitive emissions — typically leaky valves in refrigerators, cooktops, and coolers.

Maintenance of equipment and ongoing tracking and reporting using smart technologies and sensors is the best way to prevent the escape of these invisible threats. Investing in smart technology not only removes the guesswork but addresses fugitive emissions today and future proofs operational safety and sustainability.

These other emission causing outliers are some of the most obvious, but frequently overlooked.

Range hoods
While effective and important to use while cooking to ensure smoke and other toxins are removed from spaces, commercial range hoods are often left on for longer than needed, which consumes a lot of energy. Consider installing heat sensors that automatically turn on and off the hood exhaust fan or reduce the fan speed as needed. This saves energy both in the exhaust fan itself and in the conditioning of outside makeup air.

Upgrade refrigeration equipment
Replace legacy equipment that uses outdated R134 and R404 refrigerants with modern equipment that uses R290 refrigerant, which has natural, non-toxic, and free ozone-depleting properties.

LED lighting
This might seem obvious, but many commercial kitchens fail to upgrade lighting to LED — an easy and affordable switch.  

Energy provider
If your energy provider isn’t using renewable energy, your efforts to decarbonize and reduce your carbon footprint will be less impactful. This is a much larger consideration, but nevertheless an important issue to be aware of when looking to make sustainable change that leads to positive environmental impact.