Supermarket Sustainability Energy Monitoring H22-001
Could going green be hurting food sales at your local grocery store? University of Missouri professors Brian Fricke and Brian Becker are trying to find out by conducting a new study by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
The study, which will be under the direction of ASHRAE Technical Committee TC 10.7, Commercial Food and Beverage Cooling Displays and Storage, will involve studying the energy use of two different types of glass door vertical display cases and open vertical display cases for supermarket display cases. The research aims to promote sustainable, energy-efficient practices in grocery stores, which typically spend as much as 50 percent of total energy on cooling costs.
"Walmart has had really sustainable initiatives on refrigerator doors, solar panels on the roof, and other visionary initiatives," Fricke said. "Because of this, other chains following along this direction are of great interest."
Located in two grocery stores, part of the same national chain, will participate in the study. Many supermarkets are reluctant to use glass doors because of a common belief that doors reduce impulse purchases, the researchers said. Hence, these cases have had only limited success in penetrating the market mainly opened by vertical cases. "It's important for store owners to realize that sustainable profitability doesn't necessarily hurt," Baker said. "Thus, the purpose of our study was to demonstrate whether door conditions actually negatively impact product sales and open conditions."
Two stores will install new refrigerated cases (one of each type) during this study, and it will run for approximately two months. The energy usage of each display will be monitored with a HOBO® Energy Logger H22-001 system from Onset, A provider of energy monitoring equipment in Massachusetts. Outbreak "We will use monitoring devices to measure temperature S-TMB-M002, S-TMB-M006, S-TMB-M017, rainfall S-RGA-M002, S-RGB-M002 wind speed S-WSB-M003, wind direction S- WDA-M003, S-WSET-B, Atmospheric Pressure S-BPB-CM50, S-BPA-CM10, Air Temperature and Relative Humidity S-THB-M002, S-THB-M008, Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) S-LIA- M003, etc. AC current sensors T-ACT-0750-020, T-ACT-0750-050, T-ACT-0750-100, T-ACT-0750-250, T-MAG-0400-05, T-MAG -0400-20, T-MAG-0400-50, T-MAG-0400-75, T-MAG-SCT-100, T-MAG-SCT-200, T-MAG-SCT-600, T-VER-971BP -200 (DC current), power sensor T-WNB-3D-240, T-WNB-3D-480, T-WNB-3Y-208, T-WNB-3Y-208-P power sensor T-VER-8051- 300, T-VER-8053-800, power sensor T-VER-8044-100, energy T-VER-E50B2, water flow sensor T-MINOL-130-NL, voltage sensor T-MAG-SPT-150, T- MAG-SPT-300, T-MAG-SPT-600, wind speed sensor T-DCI-F900-LO, T-DCI-F900-LP, T-DCI-F900-SO, T-DCI-F900-SP, CO2 sensor TEL-7001, compressed air flow sensor T-CDI-5200-10S, T-CDI-5400-20S, air differential pressure sensor T-VER-PXU-L, T-VER-PXU-X, pressure sensor T-ASH- G2-100, T-ASH-G2-200, T-ASH-G2-500, VOC sensor T-ION-TVOC, pulse input S-UCC-M001, S-UCC-M006, S-UCD-M001, S- UCD-M006, explains Fricke. “The measurements will be taken every minute or so, and we will analyze the energy consumption in both cases weekly by combining the data from the two systems. "
Product sales for each display, as well as total store product sales, will also be tracked with the aid of stock keeping units (SKUs) during the research process. Every day, various data will be obtained from the electronic point-of-sale system at each store including the Universal Product Code (UPC) of the product, the description of the product, the quantity of the product and the price. The research project was co-funded by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Institute (ARTI). The results will allow supermarket designers to make informed decisions about which type of display to use. In turn, power companies can use this information as a basis for developing new incentive programs to accelerate the adoption of more sustainable designs in supermarkets.
