Empowering Energy Efficiency in Existing Big-Box Retail/ Grocery Stores
Demonstrate a suite of pre-commercial energy efficiency technologies at a large, existing, box-retail building.
Center for Sustainable Energy
Recipient
San Diego, CA
Recipient Location
39th
Senate District
78th
Assembly District
$2,824,557
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
The project is complete. The project included installation of a new lighting technology that uses DC drivers to power the LED lights in the store. NREL completed the optimization report which modeled the suite of measures installed at the store. Total whole-building electric savings for the forecasted measurement and verification year (June 2021 to May 2022), when compared with the 2017 baseline, were 1,042,277 kWh, or 30.2 percent (or 1,115,475 kWh; it rose to 32.4 percent when DC lighting was included). This is well above the project reduction target of 689,592 kWh, or 20 percent. LED lighting, DC lighting potential, and HVAC upgrades had a forecasted savings of 775,111 kWh or 22.5 percent, with an additional 340,364 (or 9.9 percent) from unidentified end uses. Potential savings from DC-powered lighting were an additional 2.1 percent, or 73,198 kWh.
View Final ReportThe Issue
California Senate Bill 350 aims to double statewide electricity end use savings from energy efficiency and conservation measures by 2030. Meeting this aggressive target will require the commercial building industry to install holistic energy efficiency technology packages that are emerging, pre-commercial products. According to the 2013 Navigant California Potential and Goals Study, aging, existing commercial buildings, particularly in inland communities, present the greatest energy savings potential. Emerging technologies such as retrofit RTU motors, DC lighting, direct-evaporative cooling, and a cloud-based control platform will demonstrate 20% onsite energy reduction.
Project Innovation
This project demonstrates the impact of an integrated suite of pre-commercial energy efficiency technologies in a large, existing, retail building located near a disadvantaged community. One of the technologies that comprise the installation package includes a novel supervisory controller to provide system-wide optimization, to reduce electricity consumption across numerous building subsystems, including lighting, refrigeration, and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. This could enable site electricity savings of greater than 20%.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This project demonstrates how pre-commercial energy efficient technologies can deliver cost-effective, deep electric savings in a big-box retail environment, while also showcasing the demand reduction potential of these strategies. The project team will install a holistic suite of pre-commercial technologies such as a variable speed rooftop unit (RTU), high rotor pole switched reluctance (HRPSR) retrofit motor, direct current (DC) LED technology, direct-evaporative cooling to treat RTU condenser inlet air, and a cloud-based control system that will monitor all systems and detect energy waste, equipment malfunctions, and other operational problems. These technologies have the ability to demonstrate 20% energy savings.
Affordability
Demonstrated real savings by retrofitting HVAC units with Integrated Comfort Inc.’s DualCool and Turntide’s smart switch reluctance motors. The demonstrated savings of 34.4 percent in HVAC consumption, when compared with the 2020 submetering baseline, target reducing power consumption from packaged HVAC systems, which disproportionately account for critical capacity shortfalls and congestion during summer heat waves.
