The Estimation Method for the CO₂ Emission of the Menu in the Restaurant

Abstract

Although the visualization of the CO₂ emission for the menu in the restaurant is thought to be important as the basic data when we consider the sustainable life style, it seems to be almost impossible to calculate them because the energy consumption to cook each menu is not disclosed to the public. In this paper the estimation method for the CO₂ emission of the menu in the restaurant is proposed, which is based on the CO₂ emission to cook the same menu in the household. First, the CO₂ emission of the menu cooked in household was estimated. Second, “the annual CO₂ emission per the annual sales”, i.e. “the CO₂ emission per yen”, for 9 companies operated as chain-restaurants was calculated using information presented in their CSR reports, and then, the CO₂ emission to cook each menu was estimated multiplying “the CO₂ emission per yen” by “price of menu”, which correspond to the allocation method of the total energy consumption of the company to each menu based on the monetary, but which is thought to include the CO₂ emissions such as for lighting, transportation of foodstuffs and managing/operating company. As the results to compare “the CO₂ emission for the menu in the restaurant (for the production of foodstuffs + cooking)” to that in the household, the scale factor from the household to the restaurant was defined to be around 1.42. This method is very rough, but it is useful to estimate the order of magnitude of the CO₂ emission of the menu in the restaurant comparing the CO₂ emission in the households.