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Instead of McDonald’s golden arches, the Spiels chose green arches to reflect the sustainability program at their Riverside, Calif., unit.

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Photovoltaic solar panels not only convert sunlight into energy at the Riverside McDonald’s, but also shade customer parking spaces.

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The Riverside McDonald’s Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard lets users drill down for more information about the restaurant’s sustainable features.

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A page on the Riverside McDonald’s dashboard shows that the unit was built with materials that contain low amounts of volatile organic compounds, which help maintain air quality.

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Dashboard users at the Riverside McDonald’s can test their knowledge of the unit’s sustainability features in a quiz devised by the non-profit group Conservation International and the Spiels.

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Ric Richards, who owns a LEED Gold certified McDonald’s restaurant in Cary, N.C.

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The Cary, N.C.-based McDonald’s features windows with special coatings that permit as much natural light as possible in while keeping heat out.

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The Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard at the Cary, N.C.-based McDonald’s also features an interactive quiz from Conservation International and Richards.

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The Cary, N.C.-based McDonald’s has only LED lighting, which uses a fraction of the power of standard bulbs. Sensors automatically adjust to natural light, and the lighting even changes color as night falls, creating mood lighting.

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Two of McDonald’s newest restaurants have gone green with cutting-edge technologies that aim to reduce the units’ impact on the environment.

After two years of planning, Ric Richards of Cary, N.C.-based Richards Advantage Inc. opened a McDonald’s restaurant there in July 2009. The unit is the third McDonald’s unit built to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standard. Tom and Candace Spiel of McSpi Inc. in Riverside, Calif., opened the fourth such McDonald’s in October 2010 in that city.

While Richards’ restaurant is LEED Gold certified, the Spiels’ certification is pending.

Richards and the Spiels incorporated LEED Gold certification criteria in their restaurants, such as using recycled denim for insulation, installing low-flow kitchen and bathroom fixtures to reduce water consumption, and using interior surfaces made from renewable resources.

The programs have resulted in reduced utility bills, waste and indoor air pollution, among other benefits.

To build customer awareness of the sustainable features, Richards and the Spiels installed touch-screen LCD Energy Efficiency Education Dashboards. Richards said he invested about $15,000 to install the touch-screens. View the dashboard’s content online

In Depth: Richards and Candace Spiel spoke with Nation’s Restaurant News about their restaurants and how the LCD dashboards are educating customers. Read more in the Sept. 5 issue of Nation’s Restaurant News.

See the sustainable features and touch-screens

Contact Alan J. Liddle at alan.liddle@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @AJ_NRN