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Rule dims lights in large restaurants
By Xu Fan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-30 07:54
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A new energy-saving industry standard will attempt to reduce huge wastes in electricity and water for about 5,000 large restaurants in Beijing.
The standard, which was released by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce on Monday, says large restaurants covering an area of above 500 sq m should use energy-saving lighting in dining, kitchen and working areas.
It also ruled that these large restaurants should run their outdoor neon lights to the same schedule as streetlights. Additionally, they should use water-saving taps and faucets.
The standard additionally stated that in most circumstances, the indoor temperature should stay above 26 C in summer and below 20 C in winter.
"The new standard is a trial and will be implemented fully on Jan 25 next year," said Cai Yue, a press officer at the commission. She added it would mainly be used as an industry guide.
He Zhifu, secretary general of the Beijing Restaurant Industry Association and co-drafter of the standard, said there are about 5,000 restaurants covering an area above 500 sq m each among the 30,000 restaurants in Beijing.
"According to our investigation, energy costs include power, gas and water, and usually account for 20 percent of the total turnover."
He added that some restaurants owners didn't care about energy-saving systems because the initial costs of equipment were too high.
"For example, if a 500-sq-m restaurant needs to use 1,000 lamps, it has to spend about 100,000 yuan," he said. "But according to our research, this will then drop energy consumption by 30 percent."
Streetlights are set to be turned on at 5 pm and off again at 7 am the following day in December, according to the Beijing municipal commission of city administration and environment.
