Investigation of energy consumption and co2 emmission for hamburger menu production

Energy utilization and CO2 emission assessed during farm-to fork fast food production by referring to hamburger menu production with the data collected from the Turkish manufacturers. Energy intensity associated with the production of the ingredients were found consistently in the lower end of the international range, implying that machinery was at least partially substituted with labor in some production lines. Meanwhile, CO2 emission was at the higher end of the international range, emphasizing the use of relatively inefficient technology and pointing the need for improvement of mechanization and the level of the technology employed. Energy utilization for the entire menu in Turkey was 40,844 MJ/t accompanied with 15,399 kg/t of CO2 emission. The waste from the fast food industry was assessed for possible electric generation via combustion in Rankine cycle with regeneration and found to have a potential for generation of 3.5 GW/t of waste. Big Mac®, signature hamburger of the international fast food chain McDonald's, establishes a "basket" for the practical economic indicator "Big Mac index". This concept has been improved and a "basket", was defined by extending the coverage to the entire hamburger menu. The energy indicator of the proposed index when calculated with the data collected from the Turkish manufacturers was 40,884±3,126 MJ/t accompanied with 15,399±858 kg /t of CO2 emission. When the waste from the menu is combusted for electric power production in Rankine cycle, 17,472 MJ/t hamburger menu of energy may be recovered. The proposed index has been tested for the variations in the amounts of the constituents of the menu and found sensitive enough for practical use.