If you have the responsibility over the energy consumption of a chain of supermarket stores, then what is the way to invest in energy efficiency with the best value for money? The best bet is to start with the store having the lowest energy efficiency, the weakest link in the chain. Therefore you would need to identify which store is –energetically- the weakest link in the chain. This may not be obvious at first sight, but a good projection helps to identify the weakest link.  This was the objective of the IEA Annex 44 “Performance indicators for energy efficient supermarket buildings”.

It has been estimated that 3-5 % of total global electricity use stems from supermarkets in industrialized countries. Typically, 40 to 60 % of this electricity use is related to the refrigeration equipment, with a potential for economically viable energy savings amounting to more than 50 %.

Global energy consumption data for individual stores of supermarket chains are often available, through own measurements or from the utility bills.  But this data only becomes meaningful when put in the right context of sales area, outdoor temperatures, etc. – only then can the actual energetic performance of individual shops be assessed. A method to do this was developed in this Annex, with an emphasis on practical use instead of academic perfection.

Objectives

  • To create key performance indicators for energy efficient supermarket buildings, so that measurements and monitored data can be converted into knowledge concerning the energy performance of supermarket buildings.
  • To create knowledge concerning the energy efficiency of supermarket buildings from measurements and monitored data, that is useful for decision making, benchmarking and development of energy efficiency strategies for supermarket buildings.

Subtasks

The Annex has been structured into the following tasks:

Task 1: Mapping of existing energy systems in supermarkets and collection of monitored data from selected supermarket chains and individual supermarkets

  • Create a report containing an overview of supermarket energy systems & monitoring systems in place
  • Collect data
  • Affiliate with supporting companies in the supermarket sector

Task 2: Definitions & Inventory of resources & System boundaries

  • Create a report containing definitions
  • Get an overview of available resources (working material)

Task 3: Suggestion of suitable key performance indicators

  • List suggested key performance indicators

Task 4: Evaluation of existing monitoring methodology

  • Create a report on existing monitoring methodologies with recommendations

Task 5: Selection and refinement of selected key performance indicators

  • Select and refine key performance indicators, results to be included in final report

Task 6: Evaluation

  • Validate the chosen key performance indicators against validation set
  • Diversify key performance indicators depending on monitoring situation
  • List key performance indicators for different energy systems for supermarkets
  • Make suggestions on improvements of monitoring in supermarkets

Task 7: Deployment of the knowledge developed (indices, guidelines, papers, fact sheets)

  • Create a Final report on CD including national reports and intermediate reports produced in tasks 1-6.
  • Workshop in connection with an international IEA or IIR conference
  • Produce a 2 page popular summary of Annex results for a broad audience, printed

Participants

The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark

Publications

 

 

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