On the role of industrial kitchens in sustainable energy systems: the nexIK vision

Often overlooked by the research community, industrial kitchens (IKs) are among the main consumers of electric energy and water. This paper presents the nexIK research vision, which intends to turn IKs into active players in the quest for sustainable energy systems. More precisely, we first describe the five pilar of the vision: resource monitoring, users, data-driven modeling, energy efficiency and flexibility, and scale-up potential. Then, we present some initial results, namely, the definition of a taxonomy to classify IKs, and the assessment of the most common IK appliances in terms of their energy flexibility potential.