Efficient Commercial Foodservice—Scaled Field Placement

Ice machines are installed throughout the foodservice and hospitality industry, from bars, delis and restaurants, to hotels, casinos, and other institutional kitchens. Nearly every foodservice operation has at least one ice machine. They also are found in other commercial building types such as offices, laboratories, nursing homes and hospitals. Even supermarkets, with their large refrigeration plants, utilize separate ice machines to supply ice for their meat and seafood displays. Ranging from cube-type, to nugget- and flake-type machines, together this installed base represents one of the largest inventories of foodservice equipment. The study of ice machines have become one of the more concentrated efforts by the PG&E Food Service Technology Center (FSTC), based on the potential for energy efficiency and non–peak utility period operation. In 2007 the FSTC conducted its first ice machine field study, which characterized the water and energy use of eight individual ice-cube machines in commercial foodservice operations and documented the estimated water and energy saving potential that would be realized by replacing a given unit with a more water/energy- efficient model [1]. In addition, the measured duty cycles combined with the actual electric load profiles reflected the ice utilization patterns and provided insight into the potential for peak load shifting of each machine. In continuation of the first study, a second field investigation was conducted in 2011 [2]. The project centered on the replacement of an older ice machine with a newer, ENERGY STAR® qualified ice machine with a slightly larger production capacity and bin size. The goal was to quantify the resulting energy, water and associated utility cost savings—as well as the additional electricity cost saving by load- shifting ice production exclusively to non–peak periods. Following encouraging results of both studies and eagerness to promote market penetration of high-efficiency equipment, this targeted field-placement project was set forth to further demonstrate and highlight energy-efficient replacement machines in concert with permanent load shifting (PLS).