Retailers including Target, Walmart, Giant Tiger Stores and Whole Foods Market were presented with the Advanced Roof Top Unit (RTU) Awards during the PRSM2016 National Conference in Long Beach, Calif.
The Department of Energy (DOE) recognized six award winners, including Arby’s Restaurant Group and electricity supplier Southern California Edison, for innovative and efficient RTU management approaches that led to “significant energy savings in commercial buildings.”
The Advanced RTU Campaign encourages commercial building owners and occupants to replace RTUs with high-efficiency models, retrofit existing RTUs with advanced controllers, and/or continue quality maintenance of existing RTUs. Each company achieved impressive results:
Advertisement
-
Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc. made 238 high-efficiency RTU replacements across 900 stores, saving an estimated $140,000;
-
Giant Tiger Stores Limited had the largest efficiency gain for a single building RTU replacement project, a 63% installed efficiency gain with 41% capacity reduction;
-
Southern California Edison utility programs upgraded 4,679 high-efficiency RTUs and 400 advanced RTU control retrofits, saving an estimated $4.7 million;
-
Target Corporation upgraded 532 RTUs;
-
Walmart Stores, Inc. upgraded 5,919 RTUs — the highest number of high-efficiency RTU installations — saving an estimated $5 million; and
-
Whole Foods Market retrofitted 839 advanced rooftop control units — saving an estimated $747,000 — and installed 12 high-efficiency RTUs, saving an extra $12,000.
Combined, all six organizations have saved $11.8 million in a single year due to efficient RTU replacements, retrofits and quality management and operations.
“The Professional Retail Store Maintenance (PRSM) Association is dedicated to working with our members to maximize energy efficiencies across multi-site retail facilities,” said Patricia Dameron, Executive Director of the PRSM Association in a statement. “We were proud to partner with the DOE to present the Advanced RTU Awards during our national conference and look forward to working with them in the future on this and other energy efficiency programs.”
