Chipotle Mexican Grill is adding two restaurants created according to green designs to its chain of 775 outlets.
The company said it will seek LEED certification for the restaurant built in Gurnee, Ill., which includes a six-kilowatt wind turbine. The firm will also seek LEED status for a restaurant that will be part of an existing shopping center in Minnetonka, Minn.
The new locations bring Chipotle's total of green restaurants to four. The two others are in Austin, Texas.
According to the company, the wind turbine at the Gurnee restaurant will generate roughly 10 percent of the electricity the site needs.
Other environmentally friendly attributes of the new restaurant include a 2,500-gallon underground water cistern to harvest rainwater for landscape irrigation, LED lighting, water-saving faucets and toilets, Energy Star-rated kitchen equipment, landscaping with native plants, parking lot asphalt that is expected to reflect the sun's heat instead of absorbing it, use of recycled material in building, and use of surface coatings that contain fewer chemicals.
Green elements at the Chipotle restaurant going into the Minnetonka shopping center include energy efficient plumbing and lighting.
Chipotle's announcement of its new restaurants came as South Florida architect Marc Geftman, founder of TurnKey Concepts, urged that restaurateurs to move quickly to adopt more environmentally sensitive practices.
"Going green saves energy, money and the planet," Geftman said in statement. His firm specializes in architecture, design and consultancy to help create green restaurants. |
