Members of the Council include:
• Seda S. Atam, national customer executive of Edison Electric Institute
• Scot Case, vice president of TerraChoice Environmental Marketing
• Jeffrey Clark, ICF international consultant to the ENERGY STAR Commercial Food Service program
• Richard Young, senior engineer and director of education of Pacific Gas & Electric Company's (PG&E) Food Service Technology Center (FSTC)
• David Zabrowski, senior engineer/senior project manager of Pacific Gas & Electric Company's Food Service Technology Center
"We're at a crossroads in the foodservice industry where ecological concerns and money-saving initiatives are perfectly aligned. This industry needs to embrace cost-effective ways to go green, and the Certified Green Commercial Kitchen Program provides an opportunity to simplify the process," stated a representative of PG&E's FSTC.
The Council of Independent Experts will work with FoodServiceWarehouse.com to further improve the Certified Green Commercial Kitchen Program, the industry's only green certification that is free for all commercial kitchens, regardless of where they purchase their supplies. The program will also help businesses to achieve other green certifications they might wish to pursue, such as the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Program participants currently have access to a LEED Accredited Professional dedicated to counseling commercial kitchen operators on the next steps to obtaining LEED certification.
"When we launched the Certified Green Commercial Kitchen Program in 2008, our goal was to create a truly independent program unlike any other in the industry--one that didn't force restaurants to pay consulting fees or purchase products from the certifying organization," said Madhu Natarajan, FoodServiceWarehouse.com ceo. "Now we are taking steps to ensure the neutrality and efficacy of our program. We feel that the expertise, independence and objectivity of the Council members will authenticate our program as the only green certification in the foodservice industry with no fees or strings attached."
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