U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Building Technologies Program – Retailer Energy Alliance

Retailer Energy Alliance Subcommittees

The Retailer Energy Alliance (REA) subcommittees encompass five areas in retail buildings and operations that require best practices toolkits and research into innovative, cost-effective technologies. Here you will find a brief description of each subcommittee.

Each REA subcommittee is made up of retail members who can identify and take advantage of design, retrofit, and operations & maintenance (O&M) energy efficiency opportunities. Working groups established under each subcommittee are tasked with specific projects to meet the subcommittee's goals.

All subcommittee work is done in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), national laboratories, and suppliers. Retailers who want to join the REA should choose a subcommittee of interest.

Lighting and Electrical

Members are working to develop more cost-effective and high-quality light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for interior and exterior store lighting and parking lot lighting. In addition, members are working to improve the energy efficiency of other electrical equipment and plug loads.

Materials

Following are materials relevant to the REA Lighting and Electrical subcommittee. Some of these documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

Restaurant and Food Preparation

Members are working to speed the development of high efficiency heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for restaurants, including improved exhaust hoods, fans, and ducts. In addition, members are targeting improved waste heat recovery technologies, better benchmarking standards, and best practices for peak shaving opportunities.

Refrigeration

Members are promoting R&D of a more efficient design for new refrigeration units, including display cases, coolers and freezers, compressor systems, and controls. In addition, members are focusing on improving the energy efficiency of existing refrigeration systems through operational procedures or retrofit options.

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning

Members are creating a data repository of results from retailer pilot projects and best practices for heating, ventilation, and air conditions (HVAC) systems. In addition, members are working to develop more effective HVAC systems and tools for analyzing and implementing them; identifying heat recovery opportunities; and exploring building envelope improvements and dehumidification techniques that can reduce the workload of HVAC systems. A particular focus of this subcommittee is The Western Cooling Challenge (PDF 112 KB) which encourages suppliers, retailers, and manufacturers to work together to develop new rooftop units for cooling in dry climates. This committee is also exploring opportunities in HVAC system control, maintenance, and commissioning.

Whole Building Systems

Members are helping to develop systems and technologies for advancing whole building design—ensuring that all building components are working together for maximum energy efficiency. Members are working with utilities to develop intuitive systems to monitor equipment and quickly identify failures that could affect energy efficiency. In addition, members are exploring water efficiency practices for retail stores and are investigating and promoting the use of renewable materials in new and retrofit construction project.

Image of a bar graph entitled 'Energy Use Intensity (EUI) by Commercial Building Subsector.' The y-axis shows EUI measured in kBtu/ft2*y, and the x-axis shows EUI in 5 commercial building sectors broken into ten areas (interior lighting, exterior lighting, plug and process, fans, heating, cooling, service hot water, refrigeration, gas appliances, and other). Total Warehouse EUI is 33.53 with the following breakout: Interior Lighting 14.27, Exterior Lighting 0.18, Plug and Process 3.18, Fans 2.85, Heating 7.29, Cooling 2.15, Service Hot Water 0.15, Refrigeration 0.87, Gas Appliances 0, and Other 2.61. Total Retail EUI is 74.11 with the following breakout: Interior Lighting 23.88, Exterior Lighting 0.24, Plug and Process 6.36, Fans 7.66, Heating 19.27, Cooling 10.03, Service Hot Water 0.80, Refrigeration 3.55, Gas Appliances 0.47, and Other 1.85. Total Food Service EUI is 361.56 with the following breakout: Interior Lighting 22.65, Exterior Lighting 0.33, Plug and Process 33.81, Fans 32.31, Heating 36.66, Cooling 50.34, Service Hot Water 45.11, Refrigeration 33.54, Gas Appliances 104.19, and Other 2.61. Total Food Sales EUI is 198.30 with the following breakout: Interior Lighting 33.63, Exterior Lighting 0.35, Plug and Process 10.87, Fans 14.53, Heating 29.04, Cooling 18.37, Service Hot Water 6.03, Refrigeration 74.97, Gas Appliances 7.88, and Other 2.64. Total Refrigerated Warehouse EUI is 86.18 with the following breakout: Interior Lighting 18.74, Exterior Lighting 0.10, Plug and Process 2.19, Fans 5.54, Heating 4.50, Cooling 5.29, Service Hot Water 0.21, Refrigeration 45.82, Gas Appliances 3.23, and Other 0.57.

A common metric that is used to evaluate the energy consumption of a building is known as the energy use intensity (EUI). EUI refers to the energy consumed by a building per year and per unit of floor area. The REA subcommittees will tackle the areas where EUI can be significantly reduced.

This data was generated using EnergyPlus building energy simulation software.

Image of a bar graph entitled 'Retail Sector: Potential for Energy Cost Savings Using Readily Available 'Maximum Technologies'. Technology available in the year 2025 is expected to produce significantly more efficient commercial buildings - this is referred to as Max Tech. The y-axis is in billions of dollars per year. The x-axis displays five sets of bars (two bars in each set) which provide energy costs for commercial building sectors in billions of dollars per year. The first bar is 'Warehouse, Existing' at $7.17 billion per year. The second bar is 'Warehouse, Max Tech' at 3.52. The third bar is 'Retail, Existing' at 7.30. The fourth bar is 'Retail, Max Tech' at 2.98. The fifth bar is 'Food Services, Existing' at 10.66. The sixth bar is 'Food Services, Max Tech' at 7.98. The seventh bar is 'Food Sales, Existing' at 5.37. The Eighth bar is 'Food Sales, Max Tech' at 3.08. The Ninth bar is 'Refrigerated Warehouse, Existing' at 0.90. The tenth bar is 'Refrigerated Warehouse, Max Tech' at 0.53.

The energy consumed by retail buildings can be substantially reduced by using the best available technology. "Maximum Technologies" is an estimate of performance levels in the year 2025, and includes improvements in building envelope, lighting systems, plug and process loads, HVAC, and on-site generation. Max Tech is largely achievable today. One of the tasks for each subcommittee is to identify the technologies that are the most promising in reducing energy usage and energy costs.