Mayor takes Edison up on energy audit

Deirdre Newman

Running a restaurant takes a lot of energy. Just ask Mayor Gary

Monahan, the owner of the popular Skosh Monahan’s.

Refrigerators, fans and light bulbs all take their toll on

Monahan’s energy bill.

So Monahan jumped at the opportunity to have Southern California

Edison conduct an energy audit of his restaurant on Newport

Boulevard.

Edison has joined with the chambers of commerce of Costa Mesa and

Newport Beach to provide free energy audits to restaurants in the two

cities. The audits show owners how they can save energy and money.

“We want them to conserve energy, and we want to help them do

that,” Edison spokeswoman Jane Brown said. “Another important goal is

to save our companies money because we want them to stay in

business.”

Monahan is the first restaurant owner to volunteer.

“It’s a good service, and if they can help me save money, it’s a

fantastic idea,” he said.

Edison is offering the free audits to small chain or independent

restaurants that are chamber members. The audits include energy

efficiency recommendations that provide estimated savings, costs,

potential rebates and payback periods for restaurant investments.

Monahan led auditor Dean Homstad on a tour of his restaurant,

which began with crawling under an outside area to check out the

coils in the back of a refrigerator compressor.

“It’s pretty dirty,” Monahan acknowledged, prompting Homstad to

let him know he could increase his energy efficiency by 15% by

keeping the coils clean.

Next was a survey of the hallway/security lighting. Homstad

suggested replacing incandescent lights with more efficient compact

fluorescent lights.

“You can save 70% of the energy and they last twice as long,”

Homstad said.

He also examined Monahan’s computer, ice machine and walk-in

cooler. In the cooler, Homstad checked out the lighting and the

insulation and ran his hands across the coils to check for frozen

chunks of ice.

He didn’t find any.

Homstad was especially enamored of Monahan’s use of night

curtains, which provide a movable barrier between the cooler and the

rest of the kitchen.

“I love to see these things,” Homstad said. “It’s an Edison

sickness. I love night curtains. They can reduce cost dramatically.”

One of the challenges in auditing a restaurant is to remain aware

of the atmosphere the owner is trying to create, Homstad said.

“When it comes to energy efficiency, you need to have a lot of

common sense,” he said. “Obviously, [owners] have certain lighting to

create a certain ambience. So I will just make a recommendation like

‘switch to compact fluorescent [bulbs].’”

Out of respect for the colorful environment resulting from the

lighting Monahan uses above his tables, Homstad didn’t make any

suggestions for those lights or for the halogen lights in the bar

area.

“[The halogen lights] are efficient in getting the truest colors,

even for alcohol, which is important,” Homstad said.

After the walk-through, Homstad did some quick calculations and

issued his report showing that Monahan could save $1,703 per year

with an investment of $1,085 if he follows up on the recommendations.

With rebates, Monahan could save an extra $429.

“Wow!” Monahan exclaimed upon hearing the news, like a light bulb

had just appeared over his head.

Edison is conducting these free restaurant audits through the

first quarter of 2004.

For more information, contact the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce

at (714) 885-9090 or the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce at (949)

673-5245.