Arby%26#039;s going solar? I live in Asheville, NC, and a group that owns 33 Arby%26#039;s in Western North Carolina are joining with Appalachian Energy to put 4 panel solar thermal systems in their restuarants. Do you think more fast food chains will catch on?

Additional Details

9 months ago

keeping the oven and grill hot with hot water? 4 thermal panels will cover close to 60% of the hot water consumption.

9 months ago

Yes it is solar thermal. google appalachian energy arby%26#039;s and you%26#039;ll be able to read articles on it. its big here in asheville.

Best Answer

Are they really?
Let%26#039;s hope the trend continues and becomes so popular to the consuming masses that more big businesses climb on board. (They will, as a marketing gimmick and I really don%26#039;t care why they do it, but that they DO it!).

This is how grass roots turn things green!

Show them some support, write them a thankyou letter, tell others, tell them you%26#039;ll eat there more often because of this.
This is how people who give a d*m help make things work toward the goal.

THEN, after a bit of this %26#039;fashion/marketing trend%26#039; for a couple of years or so, the demand for more efficient solar panels (for instance) becomes stronger, prices come down, they become more readily available, and EVENTUALLY people will be able to afford their own- AND/OR people%26#039;s utility companies can use more of this type of energy to sell to single households.
whew. Somebody has to do it.

Asker's Rating:

More and more people are catching on. i%26#039;m with you, if its a marketing tool to go green, so be it, the point is that they are going green.

Other Answers (4)

• 4 panels? They%26#039;ll just be able to keep the coffee hot with that. Forget about keeping the grill and oven hot .
• Heck yea, it%26#039;s gonna be catching on. Wal Mart is big into solar power as well.
• We are reaching the tipping point for renewable energy sources to come on line and replace the old dirty sources. The cost of renewables grows closer to fossil everyday. At some point in the very near future, it will be cheaper to use the renewable green source.
  
  This point in time will mark the close of the industrial era and the beginning of the sustainable era or what ever the historians want to call it.
  
  Are you sure those panels are active solar, or photo voltaic?
  
  It would seem to me that PV would work better to run a fast food joint than an active thermal system...
  
  The energy bill has stalled in the Senate, and guess who%26#039;s behind it. If we can take the fossil subsidies away and give them to the alternatives, there would be so many great paying jobs to rebuild this country a lot of us could retire in 10 years and leave the world a better place!
  
  Call your Senator and demand action!
• if it saves them money