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Big Savings for Small Grocery Stores
Panel: Strategies for Appliances, Lighting, Electronics, and Miscellaneous End–Uses
Authors:
Ramin Faramarzi, Southern California Edison
Rafik Sarhadian, Southern California Edison
Devin Rauss, Southern California Edison
Abstract
Grocery stores are highly competitive businesses and operate on a very thin profit margin. One of the biggest expenses is the electric bill, which in small grocery stores can frequently exceed profits. According to end-use data from the California Energy Commission (CEC 2000), indoor lighting accounts for 26% and refrigeration for 38% of total energy usage in a typical food store. Grocery store lighting and refrigeration systems represent a fertile ground for potential energy savings.
This paper presents the results of a utility sponsored lighting and refrigeration technology retrofit project in a small grocery store in Santa Monica, California. The demonstration project assessed the benefits of improved indoor lighting and a sophisticated energy-efficient refrigeration system in a small grocery store environment. The project ascertained the retrofit solution impacts on:
1. Electric demand and energy usage
2. Owner profitability (based on electric utility bills)
3. Sales environment
4. Merchandising capacity
5. Human comfort
6. Environmental friendliness of the refrigeration system
Implementation of energy-efficient lighting and refrigeration technologies reduced lighting power demand by 22% and cut refrigeration power demand by up to 22%. During the post-monitoring period, the new energy-efficient retrofit system also reduced energy use of both lighting and refrigeration by 23%, each. Other benefits of the lighting and refrigeration system were:
• Improved human comfort by maintaining relatively constant indoor dry-bulb temperature regardless of ambient temperature fluctuations
• Improved sales environment through a 43% increase in store luminosity
• Increased merchandising volume by 60 cubic-feet
Paper
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Panels of
Market Transformation: Taking Efficiency Mainstream
Utility Regulation, Strategies, and Policies
Residential Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation
Visions of the Future: Big New Ideas for Energy Efficiency
Energy and Environmental Policy: Planning for Greater Impacts
Sustainable Communities: Systems Integration at the Community Scale
Residential Buildings: Technologies, Design, Performance Analysis, and Building Industry Trends
Commercial Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation
Human and Social Dimensions of Energy Use: Trends and their Implications
Strategies for Appliances, Lighting, Electronics, and Miscellaneous End–Uses
Commercial Buildings: Technologies, Design, Performance Analysis, and Building Industry Trends