McDonald’s uses a wind generator

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McDonald’s uses a wind generator

The fast-food company follows the trend of the trade: McDonald`s grills its burgers using geothermal energy, toilets are flushed with rain water and the residual grease from its fryers is used to recover Biodiesel.

Many manufacturers in the food industry are currently preoccupied by the buzzword sustainability. The environment is supposed to be protected, resources used more consciously and all in all a more ecological thinking is required. That’s why McDonald’s among other things has started to use a "Low Oil Volume Deep Fryer." The fast food chain is now frying its French fries by using 40 percent less fat. This is not just exemplary from an environmental point of view, but it is also healthy. "We want to do good deeds to save our maltreated Earth," says anchorwoman Barbara Eligmann, who is standing in a McDonald's restaurant that is outfitted with a solar heated service water system, solar cells on its roof and a wind generator outside the door. This eco-restaurant is located in the town of Achim near Bremen (Germany) and was planned for a total of two-and-a-half years before it was built in three months. At a 3.5 million Euro price tag, McDonald`s was willing to bear a higher cost on its test object – it is about one third more than the investment for a conventional branch. With the help of the Bierbach high school, during the next few months, results will be analyzed and the energy consumption of the eco-restaurant compared to those of the other branches. If this project turns out to be successful, there is lots of work ahead for the US company. Then it will be imperative to save energy and CO2 through special construction measures in all 31.000 restaurants of the fast food chain worldwide – that’s the goal of EEtec.

Vanessa Nanzig
InterMeat.de