Tin’s Tea House Lounge, a dim sum restaurant in the Bay Area, has darkened dining rooms. By purposely dimming the lights and implementing other energysaving methods, owner Alice Wan is conserving 33,000 kilowatt- hours a year.
   Wan sees the financial benefit of going green.
    “Just from installing strip curtains and gaskets in the refrigerators has saved me $1,100 already,” said Wan, whose establishment was certified green just over half a year ago. “You save money and do good to help the environment.”
    Wan says her restaurant is now releasing 17,000 pounds less of carbon dioxide into the local environment. Also, she annually saves 3.3 million gallons of water ($13,000) by using aerators, water conserving toilets and pre-rinse spray nozzles, among other changes.
    Since her restaurant became green, even the trash has been drastically reduced. Wan used to have trash picked up at least six times a week, if not daily. Now, because of wiser waste management, such as recycling, it is usually picked up twice each week at most.
    Tin’s Tea House Lounge is not alone. It is just one of 67 restaurants in California certified green by Thimmakka.
    For six years, Thimmakka, a nonprofit organization, has been has been working with the food service industry, aiming to give them the resources to become green organizations.
    Thimmakka began its work in 2002 with ethnic restaurants. Initially, Ritu Primlani, the founder of Thimmakka, worked with Indian restaurants, speaking Punjabi or Hindi. But as her program expanded, Primlani found that “all ethnic communities are facing the same problem … even mainstream business face the same problem: They really don’t have the time or resources to be environmentally conscious.
    “We do everything from product procurement to certification training. All restaurants have to do is say ‘yes’ and we get them certified green,” said Primlani.
    Restaurants that have been certified green by Thimmaka post a special green sticker on their windows, indicative of their green status. In many cases, this attracts customers.
    La Cocina, a nonprofit organization that provides a kitchen space to low-income food entrepreneurs, is nestled inconspicuously on a residential street in San Francisco’s Mission District. It might not be a restaurant, but it has also been certified green by Thimmakka.
    “We train 27 restaurants,” said Program Director Caleb Zigas.
    These restaurants go into La Cocina regularly to use its kitchen. Businesses like Sabores del Sur, El Huarache Loco, and Estrellita’s Snacks form La Cocina’s predominately South American customer base. La Cocina not only saves these young businesses the start-up cost, but it also reduces the environmental impact of what would otherwise be 27 independently running commercial kitchens.
    La Cocina operates sustainably, using organic foods in its enormous kitchen and “recycling and composting aggressively.” It recycles all its oil, employees bike to work and most paperwork is done electronically. Even the building itself is built such that heating and cooling systems would not be necessary.
    “Just on garbage disposal, we save $12,000 a year,” said Zigas.
    “The initial costs for my electrical upgrades to energy efficient lighting were $860, of which the city of Berkeley covered all but $206. In addition to those savings, I will save $340 each year off my energy bill,” wrote Lacchu Moorjani, the owner of Ajanta, a restaurant that serves Indian cuisine in Berkeley. “All of the restaurant’s food waste was transferred to composting through the city, which also collects recyclables at no charge. I’m already saving more than $300 per month on garbage pick-up alone. It’s been a win-win situation all around,”