Wegmans Saves Energy at Recommissioned Store
By MICHAEL GARRY
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Wegmans Food Markets here cut its
energy costs by 8% at a local store that underwent a "recommissioning"
project over the summer, when its refrigeration,
lighting and heating/ventilation/air-conditioning (HVAC)
systems were adjusted and closely monitored.
The chain began a second energy recommissioning
project last month and plans to recommission the rest of
its 71 stores over a three-year period, according to
Carol J. Duquette, Wegmans' vice president of design
services and maintenance.
"Our goal was to get everything out of our mechanical
systems we could possibly get," said Robert Sperl, store
maintenance division manager. "We recognized that the
systems might not have been installed - or commissioned
- perfectly. Hence the recommissioning, or going back
and seeing what we missed the first time."
In addition to cutting energy costs, the project also
reduced maintenance costs and left the store "running
better," said Sperl. "It's tough to admit that we made
mistakes in the beginning, but we got over that."
The recommissioning project ran from mid-June to late
July, though the bulk of the work took place during a
two-week period, said Jim Vannan, Wegmans' energy
manager of the design services development group. The
project was done at a 130,000-square-foot store open for
less than a year.
Duquette, Sperl, Vannan and three other Wegmans
executives described the recommissioning effort last
month at the Food Marketing Institute's Energy &
Technical Services Conference in Orlando, Fla.
As a result of changes made at the store, Wegmans
estimates it will save $4,862 annually in running its
low-temperature refrigeration system; $17,558 in its
medium-temperature refrigeration system; and $12,254 in
its HVAC and lighting systems, according to Vannan.
Wegmans used an outside firm - Aztec Energy Partners,
Conyers, Ga. - to manage the recommissioning project.
Duquette declined to provide the cost of the project,
but noted that "the savings were much more than the
cost."
A key objective in the initial project was to educate
Wegmans' energy, maintenance and construction staff on
the value of recommissioning, said Duquette.
Wegmans decided to focus its initial recommissioning
efforts on stores built over the past few years, which
are larger and use the most energy, said Vannan. In
addition, those stores employ energy management systems
that track energy usage and allow Wegmans personnel to
measure the effect of changes made to refrigeration and
HVAC systems. The Rochester store has CFC and Johnson
Controls energy management systems.
To capture and track the store's energy management
data, Wegmans recently established a dedicated server,
Duquette said.
In the Rochester store, Aztec surveyed mechanical
equipment and operational practices, and kept a log of
all observations and changes. Operational issues
included "overloading cases and leaving the freezer-box
door open," Vannan said.
Among the changes made: In the store's
low-temperature refrigeration system, Wegmans adjusted
the pressure and made sure store employees kept the
freezer-box door shut as often as possible; in the
medium-temperature system, the temperature of the glycol
coolant was adjusted, two of three glycol pumps were
turned off, and adjustments were made for some dairy
cases; in the HVAC system, fans were shut off at night;
and lighting of departments that closed at 9 p.m. was
programmed to be turned off overnight.
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