NORM ROAST: A Protocol to Compare Energy Efficiency in Roasting Machines
By Marko Luther and Dave Baxter
Consumption and emissions protocols for all types of machinery, including cars and major appliances, have existed for quite a while. In coffee roasting, however, there has been no defined standard that allows us to compare the energy consumption and the release of pollutants of different machines across manufacturers.
Optimizing energy efficiency in roasting equipment is critical to reducing the harmful effects of climate change and to keeping a roasting company’s costs down, but selecting a roasting machine based on energy efficiency or CO2 emissions is currently close to impossible. The technical documentation of a machine usually includes the rating of the heating source, but only in some cases is energy consumption provided. In rare cases, the electric consumption of the motors and other components will be included. Emission values are even harder to come by. A lack of information about the conditions under which consumption and emission figures apply makes it impossible to estimate how much energy is actually needed to roast a kilogram of green coffee on a given machine and with the intended roast result.
NORM ROAST, a new project spearheaded by a consortium of roasting machine manufacturers and field experts, aims to change that by developing a standard protocol to measure energy usage and CO2 emissions in small to medium-sized roasting machines.
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