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Keeping Your Cool: Energy Saving In Supermarkets

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Lower emissions, greater energy efficiency and lower operating costs, that’s the golden trifecta that supermarkets are constantly striving for.

As the supermarket freezers are slowly but surely becoming more jam-packed with frozen turkeys for the festive season, refrigeration costs are on the minds of shrewd operations managers.

Refrigeration is unquestionably the biggest source of energy consumption in stores, representing almost half the energy expenditure. HVAC is a relatively close second and combined, the two can wrack up nearly 70% of all electricity consumption.

It’s no secret that the food retail industry is continuously expanding in the UK and across the world. Aldi is planning an aggressive expansion across the country with plans to open more than 1,000 new outlets in the UK.

In an effort to reduce their carbon footprint and utility bills, Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer (who earlier this month were given the provisional green light to merge with Booker, the largest grocery wholesaler in the UK) switched to 100% renewable electricity this year in the UK and has a worldwide aim of 2030.

With any new store construction, it is essential to incorporate energy management and sustainable solutions from the outset, so that improvements in store efficiency can be seen from its opening.

Behavioural changes start from an organisational level, a shift in ideologies and investment in tech that allows for monitoring on a granular level can make a huge difference to how a business is run.

Energy savings can be maximised if the system deployed monitors the energy consumption of in store assets. Identifying inefficiencies and improper usage are the first in a long line of opportunities for cost saving.

Detecting system failures before they occur allows for predictive maintenance to replace planned maintenance, meaning you will not only see a reduction in energy bills, your maintenance and component bills will also be reduced.

Using a system that recognises unusual energy usage patterns and sends alerts for service also helps to avoid the high costs of potentially spoiled perishables.

Real-time data helps to implement and promote behavioural change on a grassroots level from the very beginning. Educating on-site staff with energy consumption data that they can see in real-time promotes process improvement and engagement in energy efficiency projects.

To learn more about how IoT technology can help your business, contact us here.

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