In a move to squeeze waste out of its energy use, McDonald's Corp. will announce an effort to use a networking system to more efficiently monitor and control everything from fryers, grills and milk-shake machines to air conditioners and lights, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
McDonald's officials said the company spends more than 1 billion U.S. dollars a year on energy worldwide. They wouldn't quantify how much the new system could lower that cost, but they hope to cut kitchen energy use at least 10 percent with the technology, according to the report.
The goal of the system, which was termed by McDonald as a "kitchen of the future," is to reduce energy use and improve operational know-how through systems operated by restaurant managers via computers that can be reprogrammed over the Internet, said the report.
The system will use the restaurants' electrical wiring as a communications pathway. The company will work with equipment makers to ensure that semiconductors with networking capability are incorporated into equipment.
Some equipment might be programmed to curb the amount of power consumed. For example, it could sequence grills so they don't all heat up at once, or it could cycle equipment in response to meal rushes, slowing exhaust fans during the lull between lunch and dinner.
