Retailer Energy Alliance
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invites retailers to join the Retailer Energy Alliance (REA), designed with both bottom-line and energy savings in mind. Here you will find information about REA — such as its energy-efficient technology initiatives — as well as REA goals and subcommittees.
Suppliers play a critical role in providing energy-saving technologies and strategies. Learn more about how suppliers can participate with the alliances and submit descriptions of new technologies.
For more information, read the Retailer Energy Alliance fact sheet (PDF 744 KB). Download Adobe Reader.
About the Retailer Energy Alliance
Retail buildings in the United States account for approximately 20% of commercial sector energy consumption and represent the fastest growing subsector, making them an important focus for DOE. The Retailer Energy Alliance (REA) — the first of the three Commercial Buildings Energy Alliances (CBEAs) — was initiated in February 2008 with an Executive Roundtable in Washington, D.C. Learn more by reading the REA Roundtable Executive Summary (PDF 87 KB). Download Adobe Reader.
The REA Steering Committee has identified the following areas of interest for exploring best practices and promoting research in energy-efficient design and operation for retail facilities:
- Right-sizing of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and refrigeration equipment and systems
- Rooftop HVAC equipment
- Refrigerated display cases
- Interior and exterior lighting systems
- Process and plug loads including maintenance equipment, electronic displays, and cooking equipment
- Building-integrated renewable energy supply systems
- Central or building-level energy management systems
Current REA Steering Committee Members include:
- American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
- Best Buy
- Food Lion
- Home Depot
- Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA)
- JC Penney
- Kohl's
- Lowe's
- McDonald's
- Staples
- Target
- Walmart
- Whole Foods Market
- Yum! Brands
One of the goals of REA is to identify new or underused energy efficiency technologies that have significant potential for energy savings in member buildings and to select the most promising of these technologies for technology procurement projects. REA members, with DOE support, will develop and implement these projects to help advance new technologies in the marketplace. With this goal in mind, REA conducted several Supplier Summits to open a dialogue between retailers and suppliers about energy-efficient products for the retail sector.
Why Retail?
An increased focus on energy efficiency has been matched by a wave of new technologies that promise to meet the need for a quantum leap in the energy performance of business operations. But many of these technologies are unproven, pose significant operational integration challenges, or are too costly at current prices to meet corporate and shareholder investment expectations.
The retail industry, however, can broadly and quickly adopt certain energy-efficient and renewable energy strategies, in part because retailers build multiple buildings with the same design. And, because of similarities between companies, lessons learned and technologies used in one company are often easily transferred to others. In addition, the retail sector is strategically positioned to increase its reach by influencing the supply stream of materials used in construction.