Globally, building sector accounts for about 40 percent of total energy consumption which associates with corresponding percentage of overall carbon emissions. Buildings used by businesses and other organizations are the largest contributors for these consumptions and emissions. The implementation of energy efficiency policy in worldwide represents potential reduction in carbon emissions. It is an extremely upfront investment that pays over time while providing additional benefits for reducing the energy consumptions and costs and increasing the energy productivity of an economy. Many governments, businesses and other organizations have given special importance to energy efficiency opportunities during their economic downturn, as a way to stimulate and sustain their economies.

Energy Efficiency Challenges for Retail Buildings

In the Retail shopping stores, the customers need to be provided with convenient facilities to feel comfortable inside the building infrastructure so that the retail shops requires lot of lighting and strong HVAC systems to spread the heating, cooling and ventilation in the appropriate ratio inside the buildings to maintain comfortable temperatures which enhances the shopping experience of the customers. These retail store buildings consumes large amount of energy consumption. In a typical 50,000 square foot retail building, 75 percent of its total energy is consumed by lighting systems and heating, cooling and ventilation alone.

In case of Retail grocery stores, the energy consumptions can differ due to the refrigeration systems, used for preserving eatables which is an another major contributor for electricity consumption. The average retail store size represents 50,000 square foot but the megastores and shopping mall buildings require more than 1 lakh square foot which has the high chances for more electricity consumption and increased costs for electricity.

Challenges On Energy Efficiency for Distribution Warehouse

The distribution warehouses are more important for the online retailers, as the merchandise for retail moves through the supply chain from the manufacturer to warehouses for storage then it gradually distributed to the retail stores or consumers according to their purchases.

According to the research conducted by Carnegie Mellon University, Retail distribution warehouses consumes 1 kWh of electricity per item shipped. The electric motors inside the conveyer belts, compactors and forklifts may consume over 65 percent of electricity in distribution warehouses while these equipments accounts for a greater part of electricity usage, Lighting systems and heating, cooling and ventilation also consumes significant amount of electricity in the warehouses. These energy consumptions will results in increased operational costs which make the building inefficient in energy usage and act as a barrier for saving the energy.

MINION – An Energy Efficiency Solution

Minion is the World’s Smallest Energy Auditing Device which is smaller than average man’s palm size. The Actual size of the device is 39 x 49 Millimetres which can fit anywhere. Our underlying features are:

• PLUG & PLAY – On 3 steps, a layman can install the minion with our instruction manual & video. The Plug & Play solution doesn’t need any electrician or energy professionals for the installations.
• COMPATIBLE – Minion is compatible in all Electricity Standards across the globe hence it becomes a Global Product. Minion is also compatible with all kind of Communication networks such as Wi-Fi, 3G/4G, where users can select the communication network at their convenience.
• FLEXIBILITY – No Plugins or Software needed, just login with a browser & start tracking. Online Firmware Up gradation, Inbuilt last 30 days of memory are added flexibility which makes Minion stands out in the Market.

Potential for Energy Consumption Reduction in Retail Industry

According to the carbon trust, a 20% cut in energy costs represents a same profit savings as a 5% increase in sales. This clearly states that the reduction in energy consumption could improve the profit margin. The potential for energy savings can vary according to the size of the retail store buildings, the large format stores and small format stores have differing levels of energy consumptions based on the equipments used inside the building infrastructure and the age of the building.

Large Format Stores

Large format stores or megastores have an energy consumption reduction potential of 15 to 30 percent annually through the individual device wise insights delivered by the minion analytics dashboard. This information makes the building operators to use the energy efficiently and reducing the operational costs.

Small Format Stores

In small format stores, the energy savings can be made up to 5 to 15 percent annually, the limited HVAC utilization and lighting based on the size of buildings and these type of retail stores consumes typically less energy comparing to the large format stores. The insights given by minion analytics dashboard transform small format retailers to reduce the energy consumption and save the energy costs.

Figuring Out Energy Costs of Shops in Mall

Minion has been deployed in the popular shopping mall in Bangalore to identify the energy consumed by each shop inside the mall. The shopping mall’s electric distribution is segregated into East wing and West wing on each floor. East wing and west wing consists of 30 shops respectively on the ground floor. A smart meter is placed in the power supply line of each shop of total 30 in East wing. This smart meter shows the total energy consumption of shops, in which the energy bill reports are not automated, where the bill calculations are to be done manually by the building operators. This makes inefficiency in operations of the shopping malls. In the west wing, minion is deployed on the power supply lines of another 30 shops on the ground floor which monitors the energy consumptions of each shop and delivers the automated monthly energy bill report for each shop to the building operator which maximizes their efficiency and reduces the operational expenses for the shopping mall.

Energy Analytics in Spa & Saloons

The HVAC and lighting are essential for the spa & saloons to make comfort the customers but these equipments are major contributors for energy consumptions and the electronic accessories used for grooming and others devices consume remaining amount of energy. Minion is deployed in this spa & saloon, captures the energy consumption pattern and delivers insights about total energy consumptions and bills, detects specific device level issues such as energy guzzling, device tampering which helps building operators to solve the issues by themselves. These insights transform the spa & saloon buildings to use the energy efficiently and increase their energy and cost savings.

Energy Savings in Food Retail Store

In a 10,000 square foot food retail shop, the energy consumptions are too high and the building operators installed some existing smart meters and Building management systems, these systems does not have the potential to deliver device level energy consumptions. The deployment of minion enables the building operator to identify the individual device wise energy consumption through the insights delivered by the minion analytics dashboard. The minion analytics dashboard has figured out that the refrigeration systems alone represent 45% percent of the total energy consumption. These insights made them to save up to 24% percent in annual energy costs.