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Novar provides the nation’s big-box retail chains with both energy management systems (EMS) and strategic services to enable them to obtain maximum energy savings from their EMS capital investment. As part of its Strategic Services program, Novar audits a retailer’s energy use over the past year and uses the information obtained to create a baseline against which future savings will be measured. Next, Novar takes advantage of the automated energy-saving capabilities available in its EMS by identifying and implementing strategies that would be appropriate for the retailer (e.g., demand ventilation, load shedding, set point control, HVAC fan control, economizer strategies, lighting and HVAC schedules). Once the strategies have been implemented, Novar, from one central location, continually analyzes each facility’s energy usage data to pinpoint those that are outside the originally commissioned limits and immediately identifies and resolves related issues yielding additional energy savings. The Strategic Services program gives retailers access to Novar’s Solution Center, which responds to store employee EMS–related calls and system alarms 24/7 to ensure that these issues are resolved immediately. During 2006, the Solution Center took 43,072 phone calls from stores and contractors and generated 8,500 work orders for 1,450 stores across the United States to ensure that each facility’s EMS was operating at maximum efficiency.
Quantifiable Savings - Novar quantifies retailers’ savings on the basis of energy-use baselines it creates for each retailer as a first step in its Strategic Services program. Novar launched its Strategic Services program in 2005. In 2006, it saved retailers 49,000,000 kWh and 1,050,000 therms—representing approximately $6,048,000 in savings. Environmentally, Novar eliminated 37,847 tons of carbon dioxide, 139 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx), and 265 tons of sulfur dioxide, having the net effect of removing 4,700 cars from the road.
Potential - Retailers who already use Novar’s EMS equipment and Strategic Services program have saved millions. If ten more of the nation’s top retailers with similar building footprints were to enroll in Novar’s Strategic Services program, collectively, they could save 500,000,000 kWh or $48,000,000.
Challenges - Novar faced several challenges in achieving these savings and took steps to meet each challenge. 1) Novar had to maintain network connectivity to 1,450 locations. Novar assigned a dedicated IT resource to troubleshoot network issues to ensure connectivity. 2) Some retailers use other EMS, so Novar must reconcile and merge their data with data from locations that use Novar EMS alone. Novar has developed tools that can reconcile data from any third-party system and make it actionable along with data from Novar’s systems. 3) Store employees need to be made more aware of energy efficiency practices they can use to produce savings. To increase awareness, Novar has created and distributed a quarterly newsletter that provides energy efficiency tips appropriate for each customer’s specific application.
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