PLANNINGANDMAINTAININGAN ENERGYEFFICIENTSUPERMARKET

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1 G. Anything else you feel will en- Remember, you have been working on this hance your presentation. project for a full semester--the presentation (both parts) should reflect Note: There are no restrictions as this work! to media or process involved in Part l. PLANNNGANDMANTANNGAN ENERGYEFFCENTSUPERMARKET by: Paul Adams Paul Adams and Associates St. Louis, Missouri My discuss on today is two-fold: 1. To give you the energy bottom line on supermarket refrigeration. 7. To tell you how to keep it that way. This presentation is designed around a 20,000 sq. ft. sales area store which represents the average supermarket, U.S.A. There will be three sections: FRST: We will discuss the energy sav- incis possible from cases and a refrigeration system selected for minimum energy use. SECOND : We will cover a General Specification for New Supermarkets. A s~ecification which, if followed to the letter, will assure that the refrigeration equipment in your store will operate in the most efficient manner. THRD: We will discuss an outline for a General Preventive Maintenance Schedule which, if followed to the letter, will assure you of efficiently operating equipment for the life of the store. As prepared this presentation, three distinct thoughts occurred to me time and again. Although they may at first appear unrelated, taken together they have shaped the material will present here this morning, These thoughts are: 1. l~dependent supermarkets earn twice as much profit as chain stores do using the same kind of refrigeration equipment. 2. Retrofitting of open multideck cases with glass doors has put to bed, once and for all, the long standing myth that you can sell more product out of an open case than a closed case. 3. All of the common varieties of refrigeration systems found in supermarkets today use the same amount of energy. These three thoughts tell me that the shrewd supermarket operator should purchase the simplest, most efficient case and compressors he can afford to maintain properly. Rather than worry Journal of Food Distribution Research February 81/page 85

2 about the wide variety of equipment available, he should concentrate on doing what he does best - Managing Supermarkets! 1 am aware of the pitfalls of generalizing on any subject, including supermarket refrigeration. There are many variables in this business, some of which are: 1. Personal preferences. 2. Desired store image. 3. Refrigeration contractor capability. 4. Whoim can be trusted. view my discussion as presenting the bottom line on energy in supermarket refrigeration equipment. f am successful this morning, you will leave here with a better idea of what kind of equipment uses the least energy. f alternate equipment is purchased, it was done for some reason other than energy conservation. n the material that follows, have used 4c/KWH energy cost and have annualized all values. Let s get on with the.specifics. The layout we will use this morning is from a 20,000 sq. ft. store--presently under construction. The frozen food, dairy, smoked and fresh meat cases are all open multideck. ce cream cases are reach-ins. The deli department uses service cases and produce is a combination of single and multideck. the basis for comparison, the single deck or well type case costs $14.76 per cubic foot per year; open multideck, $20.24 per cubic foot and the reach-in at $ The choice for frozen food based on cube is the reach-in, using 41% less energy. Substituting 37 doors for 88 of open multideck, there will be an annual savings of $4,466. Da i ry Moving to the dairy department. The traditional 5 deck case has been installed in 99% of all supermarkets built in the last 20 years. Until recently it has had little or no competition from any other type of display. The size and volume of the products displayed require a case that large. Here and there you see a walk in cooler with glass doors to merchandise milk. You see glass door retrofits in stores originally equipped with open cases. Beer and soda are beginning to appear in reach-ins. But doors haven t reached the dairy department like they have the frozen food department. Let s look at the KWH operating cost comparison between reach-in refrigerators and open refrigerators based on cube. The reach-in case costs $6.29/cu. ft. and the open case costs $9.04/cu. ft. The reach-in uses 31% less energy per year. Substituting 27 doors for 68 of open case there is an annual savings of $1,565. Del i will refer to this plan as the High Energy layout. We will compare refrigeration energy use in the High Energy layout to this arrangement for Low Energy usage. Frozen Food Let s start with the frozen food department and compare the three common types of display cases. UsinO lbe as Since we are in the neighborhood, let s talk about smoked meat cases. These are basically dairy cases with a higher front and more compressor. Using a reach in for this type of refrigerator you can see, based on cubic feet of display, the annual cost per cubic foot is $6.29 and for the open case, $lo.48--for a savings of 33%. n our 20,000 sq. ft. store we have 28 of case. Substituting 12 doors there is a savings of $879 per year. February 81/Page 86 Journal of Food Distribution Research

3 Fresh Meat Let s finish up the cases with the fresh meat department. The original High Energy plan called for 48 feet of solid back multideck cases for the fresh meat department. n the Low Energy version of this floor plan, 68 of single deck cases have been substituted. With fresh meat, shelf area is more important than cube and in this comparison we have used annual cost per square foot. The cost per square foot of shelf space for the open multideck is $17.84 and for the single deck, $11.60/sq. ft. for a savings of 35%. n the example store, substituting 68 of single deck for 48 multideck, the savings will be $2,6o4 per year. This store plan includes service deli and produce departments which were not changed. To summarize the savings from display case substitutions: Frozen Food Department $4,466 Dairy Department 1,565 Smoked Meat 879 Fresh Meat Department 2,604 Total Annual Savings $9,514 That money goes right to the bottom line. Profits before taxes for independent supermarkets are reported to be approximately 2% or twice that of the large chains. For every dollar you earn before taxes you must sell $50 in groceries. Looking at it another way, for every energy dollar saved you have generated the profit on a $50 sale. With the equipment have listed, you can save $9,514 per year and that represents profit on $475,7oo sales per year or $9,148 per week. We have covered the subject of display cases adequately, so let s proceed to refrigeration systems. With the exception of a few exotic refrigeration systems that are not readily available on the market, there is little measurable difference in operating costs among various systems available today. nterestingly enough, if you were only concerned about refrigeration energy cost, there is one system that still leads the pack in efficiency and that is the belt driven, water cooled compressor. Here is a picture of the champ. And for some of you younger folks, here is a compressor room in a little butcher shop with some water cooled units working away. ll bet there are some stores represented in this audience, that have some like this. f you do, don t let anyone talk you out of them. Before you turn to your neighbor and say, This guy is nuts, he can t be serious, let me make my point. As said in my introduction, believe the supermarket operator should keep his equipment as simple and reliable as possible and concentrate on selling groceries. chose the belt driven unit as a symbol of simplicity. What would put in my store? d put in the simplest system possible then invest some of the money saved in electronic thermostats, electronic. ti.meclocks, pressure controls an~.a good alarm system. would pay tc),h;ve a display panel right in my~offjjce.and another in the machine rborn ttiqt.displayed temperatures, pr d,s,qures and warned me in advance of problems. All the refrigeration manufacturers offer this in one form or another. That takes care of refrigeration. Let s move on to the specifications that a refrigeration contractor should follow to make sure that whatever system you decide upon functions most efficiently. Journal of Food Distribution Research February 81/page 87

4 When this specification is discussed with a refrigeration contractor he could have a variety of reactions and say one or all of the following: That will delay the store opening a week or 1 don t own a recorder or llthatls just theoretical, nobody does all that. agree that many people do not follow them but that doesn t make the practice right. What we are trying to,say in these specifications is fine tune a new store before you open it. Demand some hard evidence from the contractor that he actually did it. f you expect to have an effective preventive maintenance program after the store is open, you must start with a well tuned store or you will continually be putting out fires. Maintenance Maintenance is performed in a variety of ways. Most of the time it is done on an as required basis, waiting until something breaks down before it s looked at. Some maintenance programs consist of a monthly call with no specified action other than just checking things out.! The best PM program consists of a specific contract detailing what and when maintenance is to be done and making sure it is done. Different maintenance functions require different levels of competence. Don t use a $30 an hour refrigeration mechanic to change the HVAC filters. Don t use a $3 an hour person to clean the condensers. The best program for you may require several different contracts. These guidelines include specific items and how frequently they should be performed. How you manage this obviously depends upon the type of service you have available. You may be able to use store personnel for some things such as filter changing. To make this program a success: 1. Check to see that each function is performed on schedule. 2. Personally check to see that the service man did what he was supposed to do. Ask to see the dirty filters, ask to see the expansion valve he changed, inspect the condensers after cleaning, look at the the defrost clocks to see that they are on the correct time. f he added gas, have him show You where he fix;d the leak. 3. Keep good records to be certain hat you get your money s worth. n our work we have the opportun to spend a lot of time in different stores studying and measuring the con. dition of the refrigeration svstems. What we have seen first hand will come as no surprise to store owners: 1. No store is in perfect condition. 2. Most stores are in what we could call below average condition and would benefit from a tune up and competent maintenance. 3. Stores in which the equipment is in top shape and maintenance is up to snuff are in that condition because the owner believes in taking care of his property. f you ask him why he spends money on fine tuning and maintenance he usually says, t s good business. f you ask him if he cost justified it, he will tell you not really and add 1 talk with my competitors and know have less trouble than they do or 1 got through this last hot spell without a problem and m about the only store in town that did. i know of two chains that have gone back into existing stores and spent the time to properly adjust all expansion valves and measure the effect on the utility bill. As they adjusted expansion valves, cases and coolers worked better and they were able to readjust controls for more efficient operation. The savings in the stores tested varied ty February 8]/page 88 Journal of Food Distribution Research

5 from 6% to 9% of the total electric bill. Let s do a little arithmetic on our 20,000 sq. ft. store. At 4c/KWH, a store this size will have an annual electric bill of about $80,000. We said fine tuning will save from 6% to 9%, n our example let s be conservative and hire a $40/hour service technician and let him fine tune our store. Let s say his work saves 5% of the utility bill,.05 X $80,000 = $4,000 $4000 divided by $40/hr = 100 hours 100 divided by 40 hr/wk = 2.5 weeks Based on this exercise, the owner of a 20,000 sq. ft. store could afford to hire a competent technician for 2$ weeks a year in one store to tune up his store. f a new store is tuned up before it opens, the 5% will be realized for as long as the store is maintained. n conclusion, through proper selection of equipment, close attention to installation details and a good preventive maintenance program a supermarket can maintain a competitive edge through energy conservation. General Specifications for New Supermarkets 1. nsulate all suction lines from the display case outlet all the way back to the condensing unit, through the tunnel, overhead and in the machine room. 2. f you have a system which provides you with subcooling, insulate the liquid line Your contractor should use a temperature recorder and furnish you with a chart for every display case adjustment showing that he has complied with the manufacturer s recommendations. Every display case connected to the sam,e system should be within 3 in discharge temperature. All expansion valve adjustment, thermostat setting and compressor control adjustment should be done with the display case full of real or simulated products. A complete list of defrost settings should be made and posted on each unit in a permanent manner. Every display case should be identified on the case itself with the condensing unit to which it is connected. Diagrams should be posted in the engine room showing the case location, its identification and the condensing unit should be permanently marked with the cases and cooler it serves and all settings that apply to that unit. The contractor should furnish the owner with 2 copies of every installation instruction, defrost schedule, display case condensing unit identification in a booklet form with a final check list showing the final case temperature and expansion valve adjustments, thermostat settings, E.P.R. setting and pressure control settings. 3. nstall thermometers on all display cases. 11. Follow the CRMA Recommended Gu lines listed below: d~- 4. Adjust all expansion valves to the manufacturer s recommendations. Every manufacturer provides instructor adjusting expansion tions valves. A. RETAL FOOD STORE DESGN B. SUPERMARKET ENERGY CONSERVj CRMA EC-1 TON - Journal of Food Distribution Research February 81/page 89

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8 GENERAL PREVENTVE MANTENANCE SCHEDULE TEM FREQUENCY HVAC Filter Change Monthly Case Filters Change Bi-monthly Preventive Maintenance - Air Conditioning Winterize Air Conditioning Spring Fall Preventive Maintenance - Heating Fall Surmnerize Heating Spring Check Emergency Generator Tune-up Emergency Generator Clean Air Cooled Condenser Bi-monthly Yearly Summer months Clean Store & Case Lights Replace All Fluorescent Lights Clean Case Honeycomb Clean Meat Cases Clean Produce Cases Clean Dairy Cases Clean Frozen Food Cases Clean Hoods and Exhaust 1 year after installation Every 2 years Yearly Monthly Bi-monthly Semi-annually Semi-annually Bi-monthly nspect Fire Extinguishers Automatic Sprinklers Every 2 years February 81/page 92 Journal of Food Distribution Research