Taco Bell is building on Breiel Boulevard its first stand-alone environmentally friendly restaurant that it plans to have certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
Middletown has another corporate-owned Taco Bell renovated last year on Verity Parkway that doesn’t use any “green” concepts, according to Rob Poetsch, a Taco Bell spokesman. This way, the company can collect research to apply to existing structures, planned prototypes and future designs.
“We will continue to explore cost-effective new technologies and materials that will reduce our environmental impact, while allowing us to serve our customers delicious food,” Poetsch said in an email.
The U.S. Green Building Council, which developed LEED certification, has a list of 14 fast-food restaurants that have obtained or are pursuing its certification in the U.S., such as a handful of McDonald’s and Burger Kings. The Middletown Taco Bell site is the only Ohio fast-food establishment on the council’s list.
It is not a big trend in Ohio restaurants to be LEED certified, according to Ohio Restaurant Association spokesman Jarrod Clabaugh. But, according to Clabaugh, the restaurant industry in general is going to more environmentally sustainable practices. A growing number of restaurant patrons also support places with sustainability measures, according to Clabaugh.
The U.S. Green Building Council developed in 2000 the LEED certification program as a national benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, according to the council. Certification is available for all building types. To get it, the council says buildings earn points in several categories of green building criteria: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation in design and regional credits, according to the council.
While Taco Bell’s first LEED stand-alone store will be in Middletown, Taco Bell is part of Yum! Brands. Yum! opened in 2009 its first LEED certified building, a KFC/Taco Bell in Northhampton, Mass., according to the company. A green KFC was opened last year in the United Kingdom.
Yum! Brands said it’s found so far LED (light emitting diode) lighting fixtures in Northampton use 60 percent less energy than a typical building, for example.
Poetsch said pursuing LEED certification will result in significant savings in energy and water.
The new Taco Bell will have LED lighting in the dining room, rain and air conditioning condensation water harvesting, waste recycling, used recycled material, low-flow plumbing fixtures, water conserving landscape irrigation, a white roof and light colored concrete to reflect heat and other features to help reduce its environmental impact, according to Poetsch.
It is planned to open at the end of September.
“The beauty of this design is that the customer will not notice much other than the water harvesting irrigation tanks standing next to the building,” said Poetsch.
Clabaugh said restaurants are incorporating green concepts if they don’t go for LEED by utilizing recycled products in their operations, such as bamboo eating utensils, and installing energy-efficient lighting, cork floors or hand dryers versus traditional paper towels in rest rooms.
“A big reason for this is to help reduce their overhead energy costs and also to be more responsible stewards in their communities,” according to Clabaugh.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.
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