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When Life Hands You Lemons

Interesting story in today’s Wall Street Journal about efforts to to deal with the invasive Asian Carp. It seems that efforts to control the carp population with electrified gates and poison are not having the desired effect but there is one weapon in the omnivore’s arsenal that may yet prevail, our appetite!

Chicago Chef Phillip Foss has hit upon the not-so-novel idea of feeding the carp to his patrons. Although the fish is popular in Asia and Israel, it yas yet to find a place on the American dinner table, enter Chef Foss:

Chef Phillip Foss gazed into the mouth of the giant, slippery Asian carp that had just flopped into the back of a boat writhing with two tons of the fish. “Mmm, carp,” said Mr. Foss of the 25-pound catch.For months, Mr. Foss has been trying to elevate the invader fish to fine-dining at his swanky Lockwood Restaurant and Bar in downtown Chicago.

He has tried to entice diners every which way: carp ceviche with lime and fiddlehead fern; broiled carp with grilled fennel; carp chowder; and even carp-accio, a play on the raw Italian dish carpaccio, which Mr. Foss makes with a thinly sliced version of the fish served with watermelon.

Small Change = Big Impact

The Operations Department at Project Open Hand always has it’s collective ear to the ground to find ways to save money and energy and we have just completed a small job that could help in both of those arenas.

 A recent development in refrigeration technology is the ECM motor.  This stands for Electrically Commutated Motor.  ECM motors are microprocessor controlled, requiring less current for the same effect and therefore resulting in greater efficiency.  ECM motors are also brushless causing them to have a minimal amount of resistance (friction) which translates into less heat in the coolers and freezers  from the motors themselves.  Refrigeration in it’s most basic form is getting rid of heat, rather than cooling air, so reducing heat from the fan motors is a great first step.  

We were able to have Bay Area Refrigeration install these ECM’s in our freezers and coolers at a minimal cost to POH.  We will be tracking our electrical usage over the next year to see how much of a difference these motors make, but my first impression is that they are already having an impact.

 I have observed over the last few days that the compressors,  which are outside of the boxes at various locations are simply not turning on as frequently as they were, but still maintaining the same temperature in the boxes.   Bingo, energy savings!  We will have some data within the next 6 months to indicate what kind of savings we are generating.  We are hoping to pay off the cost of the installation in energy savings in that amount of time. 

Every small increment of energy savings translates to more resources we can dedicate to our clients.

Posted by Steve