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Chipotle to Mount Solar Panels at 75 Restaurants, Dell Installs Arrays at Its HQ

Chipotle Mexican Grill is installing solar panels at 75 restaurants over the next year, the company said today, while Dell announced that it has completed a solar project at its headquarters. Read More

(Updated on July 24, 2024)

Chipotle Mexican Grill is installing solar panels at 75 restaurants over the next year, the company said today, while Dell announced that it has completed a solar project at its headquarters.

Chipotle’s solar power initiative is part of the company’s broader plan to green its sites and its business operations.

“Our effort to change the way people think about and eat fast food began with our commitment to serving food made with ingredients from more sustainable sources, and that same kind of thinking now influences all areas of our business,” Chipotle Founder, Chairman and co-CEO Steve Ells said in a prepared statement.

“Today, we’re following a similar path in the way we design and build restaurants, looking for more environmentally friendly building materials and systems that make our restaurants more efficient.”

The company is working with Standard Renewable Energy, which is based in Houston, on the project.

When complete, the installations are expected to produce 500 kilowatt hours of electricity, which Chipotle says will make its firm the largest largest direct producer of solar energy in the restaurant industry. Over the lifetime of the solar power systems, the installations are also expected to help avoid the release of 41 million pounds of CO2 emissions, according to the company.

Solar panels have been placed at 13 restaurants, and installation projects are under way at others in Denver, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, a spokeswoman told GreenerBuildings.com. The company’s goal is to reduce restaurants’ draw on traditional power from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., when demand on the energy grid is greatest.

Factors considered in site selection are electricity consumption by any given restaurant, solar rebates that are available from local utilities and access to direct sunlight.

“Chipotle has recognized an eco-friendly method of reducing its operating costs while reducing its carbon footprint,” Standard Renewable Energy CEO John Berger said in the project announcement.

In Round Rock, Texas, Dell said its project to install 516 solar panels at company headquarters is complete. The panels canopy 50 spaces in an employee parking lot and include two charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles.

The solar power system is expected to produce about 130,000 kilowatt hours of energy annually and avoid the release of 145,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

The solar array installation project was one of Dell several initiatives that are expected to produce $5.8 million in energy savings at company facilities worldwide, the firm said in August.

McBride Electric Inc., Envision Solar and BP Solar worked with Dell to design and build the solar canopies. Dell also is a participant in Oncor‘s “Take a Load Off, Texas” solar photovoltaic program — an incentive program that encourages electricity company customers to use solar power to meet some of their energy needs.

Images courtesy of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Dell and OxBlue Inc.

 

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