Reducing energy with refrigeration

When the right time comes to update and modernise a retail convenience store, retailers often require support to help understand how best to achieve this. The first stage of this process should always be to identify what the goals are and what level of investment is required in order to gain the biggest return. One of the biggest single and ongoing costs to this type of re-fit is going to be the refrigeration systems that are required.

Purchasing new refrigeration can be a very daunting task as there are so many companies that will tell the retailer that ‘this brand or that brand is the best’. The question to ask your yourself in making the decision is what do I want from my purchase. High on the list of answers should be: reliability, energy efficiency and technical support from suppliers. Yes, cost was not one of the answers! Refrigeration cabinets are an investment that will help your business to increase turnover and therefore profits. The other great thing about purchasing a new refrigeration system, is that you stand to save thousands of pounds on your electricity bill.

Information taken directly from the Carbon Trust, a government funded organisation to help reduce energy consumption across a wide range of sources, suggests the following key points to help retailer decrease their energy consumption. Refrigeration can be attributed to between 50% – 70% of a shops energy cost. Therefore, this has to be a key part of an attempt to save your money.

Key Points to Reduce Energy Costs

• Installing new refrigeration alone can save 20% Vs the same size existing systems
• Installing oversized condensing unit can save 10% on energy costs (30% more capacity)
• Installing energy saving doors to the cabinets can save around 30%

So if we put these figures to real numbers:

Based upon a current shop of around 70sqm spending £1000.00 per month on their electricity bill:

• 60% should be refrigeration so that’s £600.00 per month
• Install new refrigeration saving 20% (£120.00 per month).
• Fitting energy saving doors saving 30% on the remaining monthly energy cost of £480 is a reduction of £144.00 per month.
• An oversized condensing unit saving a further 10% (£33.60)

Total anticipated energy cost reduction per month          –             £297.60

Total anticipated energy cost reduction per year               –              £3,571.20

Total anticipated energy cost reduction 5 year period     –              £17,856.00

It is very important to also understand that refrigeration systems will become less efficient as time goes on unless you keep them well maintained and serviced on a regular basis. We can give you more details on day to day maintenance and the things for your refrigeration engineer to look for on your regular service contract, which will ensure the savings keep rolling in.