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Energy Conservation Measures Applicable in Retail and Service Sector

Energy wastage and losses are likely to occur in retail chains with numerous branches and regionally dispersed retail chains. It is extremely easy to make significant gains by saving energy with an accurate energy monitoring system and big data analysis. Although the distribution of energy consumption of non-food stores, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and cafeterias varies, we have summarized some points that may be valid in all sectors with the data obtained from thousands of viewpoints, as follows:

• Verification of energy bills
  • Erroneous invoices may occur from time to time due to meter failure or other technical problems. Finding a reference system to verify the invoice will be effective in preventing high invoices by providing instant detection of such cases.
• Controlling reactive energy consumption and compensation
  • If the reactive energy consumption rate exceeds the limits in the relevant regulation, a reactive consumption penalty is imposed. If compensation is not applied correctly, these amounts can reach quite high figures. Therefore, real-time monitoring of reactive consumption is very important even if the compensation system is installed. Additionally, in cases such as sticking of the contactor of the compensation panel or failure of the capacitors and addition of new equipment to the system can change the reactive consumption characteristics of the relevant facility. This can result in reactive penalties.
• Measurement and analysis of consumption separately for air conditioning, lighting, production machines
  • Although measuring the total energy consumption of the facility is important in terms of providing a general control and control of the reactive consumption, it is very difficult to find concrete savings points without monitoring the consumption of each sub-unit. For example, it is extremely difficult to determine if the lighting is left on during the day by simply monitoring the total consumption. For this reason, the energy consumed for lighting, air conditioning, ventilation and cooling cabinets must be measured separately. If monitoring is done in this manner, it will be extremely easy to detect the problem. For example, a cold storage that draws 80-100 Amperes current during the cooling phase under normal conditions, can be easily detected if current reaches 150-200 Amperes due to lack of maintenance, insulation problem or malfunction, thus, preventing excess consumption. It also prevents the spoilage of stored food by applying the necessary maintenance to the cold storage.
• Selection of the most suitable electricity tariff by extracting the load profile
  • Monitoring the load profile for a few months will lead to savings by choosing the most accurate tariff for the facility. Sharing load profiles with energy distribution companies can also enable companies to submit special price offers.
• Monitoring the consumption of air conditioning (Heater - cooler) systems and comparison based on stores
  • Usage-based energy losses are very common even if a system with high energy efficiency is used. The most common energy losses are leaving the systems on after working hours, entering hot or cold set values into the systems unnecessarily, or keeping the air conditioning systems on even though there is nobody working in the environment. By monitoring the energy consumption of the air conditioning system, you can receive instant notifications if the consumption is above the determined levels outside of working hours. In addition, because of the measurement of the ambient temperature with digital temperature sensors, unnecessary heating / cooling can easily be detected. Considering that an additional 1℃ cooling increases the energy consumption of the system by 5% to 10%, making the amount of savings to be achieved, significant. With the visual reporting tools provided by Trio Mobil, it is possible to analyze such savings opportunities in a short time.
• Ensuring that the lighting systems remain off when there is daylight
  • The use of LED technology in lighting systems is an important requirement in terms of energy efficiency. However, whichever lighting technology is used, it is very important for energy saving to turn the lighting on and off in accordance with the operating rules. Leaving the lighting on during daylight, not turning it off during breaks even though there are no employees, causes energy loss. With the Trio Mobil alarm and rule management module, unnecessary usage can easily be detected by determining time-based consumption limits.
• Preventing the doors of cold storages from being open for a long time
  • The use of cold storage cabinets and storages is very common in the food retail and horeca industry. The share of these systems operating 7-24 in energy consumption can be extremely high. With the Trio Mobil IoT Platform, energy consumption, temperature values and door status of cold storage can be monitored digitally. By monitoring the open/close state of the door, it is made possible to save unnecessary energy consumption that will arise during loading/unloading operations where the system will consume high level of energy trying to keep the determined temperature each time the door is left open more than necessary. With the control of the ambient temperature, the wrong set value is prevented, at the same time, abnormalities in the defrost temperature curves can be detected, and the cooling equipment that has been overhauled or is about to malfunction can be detected.
• Monitoring the temperature of cold storages
  • It is quite common for cold storage cabinets or warehouses to be cooled to a colder temperature than necessary due to usage error or malfunction. Although there are temperature indicators on the relevant equipment, it may be possible to measure 3- 4 degrees incorrectly due to lack of calibration. At the same time, the inability to access temperature records causes inability to have information about temperatures outside of the controlled time period. Monitoring of cold storages with wireless sensors integrated into the IoT platform can provide significant contributions for both food safety and energy saving. The Trio Mobil IoT platform allows the use of many additional sensors, such as temperature, humidity, doors, etc. with the same infrastructure.
• Installation of solar panels to produce energy from solar energy
  • Solar panels, which have increased efficiency and decreased costs with the developing technology in recent years, constitute both a low-cost and zero-emission energy source for industrial establishments. Considering that the return on investment is between 4-6 years depending on the region where the facility is located, it is seen that such an investment will be extremely well-directed, especially for hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and other stores with detached buildings. The measurement systems integrated into the Trio Mobil IoT Platform allow you to control and analyze energy production as well as consumption.