R15 -- Retail Food Store Refrigeration and Equipment - (I-P)
In the United States, almost 200,000 retail food stores operate their refrigeration systems around the clock to ensure proper merchandising and safety of their food products. Figure 1 shows that supermarkets and convenience stores make the largest contribution to this total (Food Marketing Institute 2004). In U.S. retail food stores, refrigeration consumes about 2.3% of the total electricity consumed by all commercial buildings (EIA 2003). As shown in Figure 2, refrigeration accounts for roughly 50% of the electric energy consumption of a typical supermarket (Arthur D. Little1996). Supermarkets and grocery stores have one of the highest electric usage intensities in commercial buildings, at 43 kWh/ft2 (1650 MJ/m2)per year. Use for larger supermarkets with long operating hours has been measured at 70 kWh/ft2 (2710 MJ/m2) per year (Komor et al. 1998). Chapter Table of ContentsDisplay Refrigerators