Learn more about what drives sustainable practices, and how it impacts your customers and your business.

Consumer Preferences

1. More than 75% of consumers consider sustainability at times when making purchases (Hartman Group, March 2009)
2. 76% of consumers say it is important that a company tries to minimize the environmental impact of its production (Hartman Group, Sept. 2008)
3. 34% of consumers would be willing to pay 20% more for sustainable products (Hartman Group, March 2009)
4. 71% of executives surveyed cite consumers’ unwillingness to pay a premium for green products or services as the primary obstacles to more businesses “going green” (Gibbs & Soell, 2010)
5. Despite the economic downtown, 62% of consumers are purchasing the same amount of sustainable products (Hartman Group, Sept. 2008); a majority (63%) of Americans understand that global warming is happening, 19% say it is not happening and 19% say they don’t know (Yale University, 2010)
6. Large majorities of Americans correctly understand that the following actions would reduce global warming if they were done worldwide: switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources (75%), planting trees (81%), reducing tropical deforestation (73%), switching from gasoline to electric cars (75%), driving less (76%), increasing public transportation (67%), switching from regular incandescent to compact fluorescent bulbs (69%), insulating buildings (65%) and switching from fossil fuels to nuclear power (59%) (Yale University, 2010)
7. Only 16% of consumers polled think that the majority of businesses are committed to “going green” (Gibbs & Soell, 2010)
8. 48% of consumers still express a willingness to pay a 10% premium for goods or services produced in an environmentally and socially responsible way (Havas Media, April 2009)
9. 80% of people believe the responsibility for finding solutions to the sustainability challenge lies with business (Havas Media, April 2009)
10. Nearly 75% of consumers believe they can actively influence brands and companies to make them behave more responsibly (Havas Media, April 2009)
11. Nearly 90% of all consumers are familiar with the term ‘sustainability,’ while 50% claim to hear the term often. Awareness is highest among emerging markets, with 89% of Chinese consumers hearing the term often. This contrasts sharply with the U.S. where consumers are least aware of the term, with only 21% claiming to hear it often. This is an extremely large gap between two national economies with the highest potential impact on sustainability. (Havas Media, April 2009)
12. Less than 30% of consumers associate the term ‘sustainability’ with high prices, sacrifice, guilt and the past; 70% associate the term with balance, integrity, health, community, opportunity and the future (Havas Media, April 2009)
13. More than 80% of consumers claim to respect companies that act responsibly. A similar proportion of consumers (80%) feel companies should be actively involved in this area and accept that they themselves need to adapt and change their lifestyles to combat current issues. (Havas Media, April 2009)
14. U.S. consumers have direct or indirect control over 65% of the country’s greenhouse-gas emissions, including emissions from cars, air travel, housing and appliances (McKinsey & Co., 2008)

Business Trends

1. In the National Restaurant Association’s “What Hot in 2010” survey, locally grown produce, locally sourced meats and seafood, and sustainability ranked 1, 2 and 3, while locally produced wine and beer was listed fifth, and sustainable seafood and organic produce were included in the top 20 (National Restaurant Association, 2010)
2. 93% of CEOs believe that sustainability issues will be critical to the future success of their business (United Nations Global Compact-Accenture, 2010)
3. 72% of CEOs cite brand, trust and reputation as top factors driving them to take action on sustainability issues; revenue growth and cost reduction were the second most popular option with 44% of CEOs noting their influence (United Nations Global Compact-Accenture, 2010)
4. 72% of CEOs see education as the most critical global development issue to address for the future success of their business; climate change is second with 66% (United Nations Global Compact-Accenture, 2010)
5. 58% of CEOs identified consumers as the most important stakeholder group that will impact the way they manage societal expectations; employees were second with 45% (United Nations Global Compact-Accenture, 2010)
6. 91% of CEOs report that their company will employ new technologies (e.g., renewable energy, energy efficiency, information and communication technologies) to address sustainability issues over the next five years (United Nations Global Compact-Accenture, 2010)
7. 88% of CEOs believe that they should integrate sustainability through their supply chain, only 54% believe that this has been achieved within their company and an almost identical performance gap is seen for subsidiaries (United Nations Global Compact-Accenture, 2010)

1. Research reveals that 40% of consumers take a restaurant’s energy and water conservation efforts into consideration when choosing where to dine out (National Restaurant Association, 2010)
2. 82% of consumers say they will decrease or stop going to a restaurant that falsely claims to be green (Technomic Consumer Survey, May 2010)
3. 94% of consumers trust a restaurant's green claims when they are verified by an organization as being true; only 6% trust self-reported claims that are not verified (Technomic Consumer Survey, May 2010)
4. 79% say they are more likely to dine at a Certified Green Restaurant® over one that is not (Technomic Consumer Survey, May 2010)
5. Research by the National Restaurant Association shows that 62% of consumers say they are likely to choose a restaurant based on its environmental friendliness, and nearly 1/3 of restaurant operators plan to allocate a larger part of their budget to such efforts this year (National Restaurant Association, 2010)

1. Running a water faucet for five minutes uses nearly as much energy as running a 60-watt light bulb for 14 hours (NRA Conserve, 2010)
2. A standard toilet uses as much as 4.5 gallons per flush; low-flush toilets use around 1.6 gallons per flush (NRA Conserve, 2010)
3. A leaky faucet dripping one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water a year; a leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water a day (NRA Conserve, 2010)
4. By fixing a leaky faucet, an operator can save up to 20 gallons of water a day -- or as much as 140 gallons a week and 7,300 gallons a year (NRA Conserve, 2010)
5. Nearly three in 10 quick service-restaurant operators and about four in 10 full service-restaurant operators installed water-saving ware-washers and toilet fixtures in the last two years (NRA Conserve, 2010)
6. The average full-service restaurant uses 5,000 gallons of water per day; quick-service restaurants use about 2,000 gallons per day (PG&E Food Service Technology Center, May 2009)

1. 80% of the $10 billion annual energy bill for the commercial foodservice sector is expended by inefficient food cooking, holding and storage equipment (Energy Star, 2010)
2. The money you save on operating costs through energy efficiency adds up to what you get to keep, so saving 20% on energy operating costs can increase your profit as much as 30% (NRA Conserve, 2010)
3. Energy costs are increasing at a rate of 6% to 8% per year (NRA Conserve, 2010
4. The average restaurant consumes roughly 500,000 kWh of electricity and 20,000 therms of natural gas (USA Today, 2008)
5. Restaurants that invest strategically can cut utility costs 10% to 30% without sacrificing service, quality, style or comfort – while making significant contributions to a cleaner environment (Energy Star, 2010)
6. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning consume 28% of a restaurant’s energy budget (PG&E Food Service Technology Center, Sept 2009)
7. Food preparation appliances consume 35% of a restaurant’s energy budget (PG&E Food Service Technology Center, Sept 2009)
8. Walk-in and under-counter refrigerators use 6% of a restaurant’s energy budget (PG&E Food Service Technology Center, Sept 2009)
9. On average, one electric fryer uses more energy than that of an entire residential home (EIA, 2010)
10. The typical restaurant produces 50,000 pounds of garbage each year; close to 95% of the waste can be recycled or composted and half of that garbage is food waste consisting of scraps, cuttings, peels, etc. (Dine Green, 2010)
11. A restaurant’s energy intensity measured in kbtu per sq./ft. is 2.5 times higher than the average commercial building (EIA, 2010)
12. A restaurant’s kitchen is five times more energy intensive than the rest of the building (NRA Conserve, 2010)
13. 13% of a typical restaurant’s energy use goes to lighting (PG&E Food Service Technology Center, 2010)
14. Restaurants that invest strategically in energy efficiency will save between $3,200 and $9,600 in energy costs on average (EIA, 2010)

Based on the Average Energy Outlook 2010 by the Energy Information Administration, the natural gas price averaged $9.19 per thousand cubic feet (“nominal dollars”), while the electricity price averaged 9.6 cents (“nominal dollars”) per kilowatt hour (EIA, 2010).

• Dine Green
• Energy Star
• Fast Casual.com, The Dos and Don’ts of Green Restaurant Marketing, Sept. 2010
• Gibbs and Soell, Sense and Sustainability Study: Perspectives on Corporate Sustainability among Consumers and Fortune 1000 Executives, 2010
• Hartman Group, 2008 Sustainability Survey
• Hartman Group, Sustainability: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility, March 2009
• Havas Media, New Research Shows that Despite the Economic Recession, Consumers Still Place Considerable Value on Sustainability, April 2009
• Horovitz, Bruce, USA Today, Can Restaurants Go Green, Earn Green 2008
• National Restaurant Association, What’s Hot in 2010
• National Restaurant Association
• National Restaurant Association Conserve
• Pacific Gas & Electric Food Service Technology Center
• Pacific Gas & Electric Food Service Technology Center, Efficient Water Use in Food Service Operations
• Pacific Gas & Electric Food Service Technology Center, Saving Energy and Water in Kitchens
• United Nations Global Compact-Accenture, A New Era of Sustainability: UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study 2010
• United States Energy Information Administration
• United States Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2010
• United States Energy Information Administration, Frequently Asked Questions—Energy
• Yale University, Americans’ Knowledge of Climate Change, 2010