With profit margins for major US grocery retailers and supermarkets ranging between 2% and 3.3%1, why wouldn’t you want to relieve pressure and increase profitability by cutting costs? And with food waste – caused by refrigeration failure – adding to the squeeze on margins, why wouldn’t you want to cut that too? Around 30% of food produced for human consumption globally is lost or wasted along the supply chain2.
The question is how, and the answer can be found in your energy strategy.
Having an effective strategy for sourcing and managing energy can enhance the profitability of companies at all stages of the cold chain. By reducing energy consumption, optimizing usage and improving system resilience, you can save refrigeration costs, reduce costly waste of goods and prevent downtime.
More efficient equipment and energy technologies – including on-site generation, renewables and energy insights – as well as monetization of energy resources, can reduce energy bills and improve system resilience.
For example, Trigeneration capabilities – combined heat and power (CHP) generation units with absorption chillers – cut energy usage and costs within facilities with significant refrigeration requirements and improve resilience by reducing dependency on the grid. CHP can deliver cost savings of up to 40% when compared with traditionally generated electricity sourced from the grid and heat generated via onsite boilers. Given that approximately 60% of supermarket energy consumption can be attributed to refrigeration – for cold chain distributors this could be as high as 70%3 – Trigeneration shouldn’t be overlooked.
Ornua Foods achieved cost savings of $41,800 per year and reduced carbon emissions by 476 tons following the installation of a new CHP plant.
To cut food waste caused by refrigeration failures, you need to be energy resilient. On-site energy generation and storage solutions reduce the risk of power outages by reducing dependency on the grid. Energy sensors can identify malfunctioning equipment, enabling swift action to reduce energy risk and limit spoilage.
Effective maintenance and design of refrigeration units also impacts energy consumption. An effective Energy Management Program should include monitoring of all cold chain facilities to identify and replace/repair equipment with an excessive load profile, which will reduce both operational and maintenance costs.
Read our article to discover more about how the right energy strategy can enable cold chain operators improve profitability by cutting refrigeration costs and food waste. We reveal the steps you should be taking and the new energy solutions that can power your sustainable future.
1IBIS World data, June 2018, 2FAO. 2015. Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, 3https://www.dexma.com/energy-saving-solutions-for-supermarkets/
