New Cooling Solutions Helps Retailers Save Money

With increasing competition and decreasing margins, food retailers are searching for new cooling solutions to secure profitability. Danfoss, a producer of cooling solutions, launches the Smart Store solution, which helps retailers achieve optimal performance and save money on energy.

Energy consumption is one of the biggest cost drivers in supermarkets. Danfoss Smart Store solution enhances food safety and brings down the energy bill by integrated control of refrigeration, HVAC, lighting and other applications, connecting and optimizing supermarket from case to cloud.

For example, compressor packs typically account for 30-50% of a store’s energy consumption. Multiple studies have shown that compressors only need to run at full speed about 10% of the time in order to meet demands. The rest of the time, compressors can run lower speeds and still deliver the right level of cooling. Frequency converters and suction pressure optimizers are some additional measures that can save up to 30% on a store’s energy bill. By adding heat reclamation to the compressor pack, the savings can be bigger.

Smart Stores save energy inside and out
The Smart Store comprises several features that reduce the energy used by refrigerated display cases and freezers. Adaptive superheat—using electronic evaporators and valves to ensure that the level of refrigeration meets the needs of the system—can save up to 12% when compared to more traditional methods.

Increasing the energy efficiency inside the store, however, is not the only way to achieve cost savings and environmentally friendly solutions. Flexibility in energy demand, or smart grid integration, can also be a part of the solution. Compressor load shedding in supermarkets can reduce energy demands by as much as 80% for short periods of time.

CO2 systems with heat reclaim are part of the Smart Store solution
Supermarket refrigeration has been in the environmental limelight for years. Leakage rates of up to 30 percent from supermarkets’ refrigeration systems pose a threat to the climate and EPA regulations and conventional HFC refrigerants are being phased out. Among refrigerant alternatives, CO2 is emerging as one of the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly solutions.

To date, more than 7,000 Danfoss transcritical CO2 systems are in operation in European supermarkets and we expect to see similar developments in the US as new EPA regulations are implemented. Furthermore, innovative technologies open new opportunities for the application of CO2 in warmer climates and with ever higher efficiencies.

Thinking ahead with big data
Big data opens a new world of opportunities for food retailers to improve revenue streams, control costs, and drive change in business and delivery models. According to a McKinsey study, retailers can improve operating margins—from shop floor to technical installations—by up to 60% by using big data.

Among others, continuous data collection and analysis enable automatic HACCP reporting and on-going optimization of energy efficiency. Smart Store offers Electronically Delivered Services (EDS) to optimize daily operations and free up resources in store and chain management.

Facts about the Danfoss Smart Store
The Danfoss Smart Store solution is based on more than 30 years of close cooperation with a global community of food retailers through ADAP-KOOL solutions and more than 80 years in the HVAC industry. The Smart Store solution is operating in more than 5,000 stores worldwide and the proven savings of up to 50% per store.

With more than 50,000 food retail installations worldwide, Danfoss leads the development of integrated Smart Store control solutions. 250 food retail specialists engineer the solutions of tomorrow and provide consultancy to help find the right store solution.