Users of ConnectedCooking, Rational’s digital kitchen management system, now have access to an exclusive new feature: the panel for real-time digital display of energy consumption. This means that, for the first time, users can always monitor the energy consumption of the iCombi Pro and its predecessor, the SelfCookingCenter model, and can immediately identify increased energy consumption – as well as potential energy savings.
“Energy consumption in the kitchen needs to be identified in order to derive recommendations to address it,” says Theresa Felchner, ConnectedCooking Product Management at Rational. In the hospitality industry, almost 80% of annual energy costs, around €8.5 billion, are due to energy inefficient food preparation and storage. With the new energy consumption screen in the ConnectedCooking dashboard, it is now possible to display the current month’s energy consumption for each cooking system or user account. It is also suitable for cooking or cleaning processes. For example, high energy consumption can be identified, which is related to the calculation of electricity costs.
The table shows the loading time, i.e. the time the cooking chamber door remains open for loading and the idle time after the end of preheating, i.e. the time the cooking system has to maintain the chamber temperature until the cooking system is loaded. Long door opening times and inactivity times are immediately indicated by the energy loss value.
The advantages are self-evident, according to Felchner: “Potential energy savings can be quickly identified with iCombi Pro and SelfCookingCenter, so that appropriate measures can be taken.” These include, for example, efficient loading or conversion of production in order to significantly reduce energy consumption. And those who save energy also work in a sustainable way. Felchner continues: “In addition to the control panel, ConnectedCooking offers even more digital support in the professional kitchen with recipes, management of cooking units and their hygiene. The kitchen can suddenly do more than before because work processes can be simplified in such a way that there are noticeable savings in time and money.”
You can find more information about the new panel and digital kitchen management from Rational at ConnectedCooking.com.