Minimum energy kitchen ventilation for quick service restaurants.

Commercial cooking equipment exhaust systems have a significant impact on the total energy consumption of Foodservice facilities. It is estimated that commercial cooking exhaust ventilation capacity in food-service facilities across the United States totals 3 billion cfm (1 . 4 billion L/s) with an associated annual energy cost approaching $3 billion, based on an average of $1/cfm ($0.47 per L/s) per year. Significant energy and cost savings can be achieved by reducing ventilation rates. There are different optimum constant ventilation rates for gaselectric and all-electric kitchens that differ by climatic zone and that result in the development of minimum energy ventilation (MEV) strategies. This paper documents a preliminary investigation using computer simulations on the effects of different levels of constant ventilation rates for wall-mounted canopy and backshelf exhaust hoods in quick service gas-electric and all electric restaurants.