With a wealth of technologies and competing demands across sites, decarbonization can be a complex challenge for companies of all shapes and sizes. Taking a data-centric approach to building an energy roadmap — and letting the data point to what happens next — is key in supporting companies along the way.
The path towards a net-zero global economy demands an “unprecedented
transformation” of how energy is produced, transported and used. That’s the view
of the International Energy Agency (IEA) — whose
roadmap, published last year,
set out a cost-effective and economically productive pathway to a world powered
by renewables such as
solar
and
wind,
rather than fossil
fuels.
The vision includes a major drive to boost new solar PV installations to 630
gigawatts by 2030, equivalent to installing the world’s current largest solar
park every day. It demands wind farm capacity reaching 390 gigawatts. It means
increasing energy efficiency by 4 percent a year through 2030, around three
times the average over the last two decades.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction activity between now and 2030 is
crucial for companies to realize their decarbonization goals — and most will
come from technologies readily available today. For companies, cutting GHGs is
at the heart of any robust corporate sustainability strategy. Consumers,
investors and employees are looking for companies and brands to take action.
However, with a wealth of technology options and competing demands across sites,
the journey to net zero can be a complex challenge for companies of all shapes
and sizes.
“There’s still a misconception that sustainability is all about installing giant
solar panels on your roof or having wind power out in the field next to your
manufacturing facility,” says Chris
Kaiser, Director of Solution
Sales at Shell Energy, who works with companies to improve their energy
efficiency. “It is about optimizing the use of clean energy onsite; but it’s
about so much more than that,” he adds.
Illuminating solutions at Turnersville AutoMall
About 15 miles south of Philadelphia is the Turnersville
AutoMall — a 65-acre campus with nine
car dealerships. Run by the Penske Automotive
Group, the site includes
300,000 square feet of showrooms, service spaces and offices. There’s even an
onsite test track where customers can take cars out for a spin instead of going
onto the road. From here, the dealerships sell around 15,000 vehicles a year.
Like many companies of similar size, Turnersville has a significant energy bill
and an associated carbon footprint it is working to reduce. Alongside its annual
utility bill, the company also faced hefty costs to maintain, service and
replace the 79 rooftop HVAC units installed across the campus between 2005 and
2008 to keep workers and customers comfortable all year round.
“The other challenge we face as an industry is the fact that electric
vehicle
sales are growing,” says Turnersville president Peter Klein. “That wave is
coming; and we felt the need to tighten up our current energy footprint and
prepare for the significant energy demand from the EVs.”
Enter Shell Energy, which has been working with Klein and the team at
Turnersville AutoMall to consider options for the campus — from HVAC and
lighting upgrades to solar PV and backup generation, as well. Figuring out what
energy solutions would work best for the site, establishing priorities and
reducing the energy spend close to zero has been a collaborative process over
the last 18 months.
“We had a lot of levers that could be pulled — from the rooftop units to the
exterior lighting,” Klein says. “So, we sat down and frankly evaluated the
business case for each of the individual elements, looking at the things that
could make the quickest improvement. That was identified as the HVAC program.”
Energy data and understanding is crucial
First, an energy management system was installed to collect energy and
performance data to help understand the condition of existing HVAC units. This
established a business case for phasing them out and moving to higher-efficiency
rooftop units. Next, replacing the exterior lights made commercial sense in
terms of return on investment and ease of implementation.
“The Shell Energy team brought things to our attention that we hadn’t been
focused on,” Klein admitted. “We take care of customers and sell and service
vehicles. While we have a good facilities team, HVAC and energy management is
not our expertise.”
Taking a data-centric approach to building an energy roadmap — and letting the
data point to what happens next — is key in supporting companies such as Penske
Automotive. Installing an energy management system, for example, allows
organizations to gather data on the performance of facilities and use that data
to make informed business decisions.
“In the case of Turnersville, we collected data for about 90 days and came back
with some critical information,” Kaiser says. All of the site’s HVAC units were
categorized as red, yellow and green: The red ones needed replacing right away;
the yellow one had a bit more time and could potentially be repaired; and green
ones were okay.
Proving the business case is important for getting internal buy-in from
employees and senior managers. But so is explaining how improvements will be
made without disruption to business as usual. The operators of the retail
businesses onsite, for example, are focused on making sure customers are
comfortable every day, especially in extreme temperatures. They needed
convincing that the company’s plan to go from 79 aging HVAC units to 79
higher-efficiency, reliable units wouldn’t take assets out of operation
preliminarily or prematurely. “There was no pushback when it came to the HVAC
process at all,” Klein said.
Big savings and a robust plan to go further
Having a robust plan in place to stage and sequence projects appropriately is
hugely important, too. It allows companies to budget correctly year after year
and to have a smoother OPEX cycle.
Upgrades already carried out at Turnersville AutoMall campus — including the
full exterior lighting replacement and partial HVAC unit upgrade — have so far
delivered $45,000 of net savings and 19.2 percent energy saved. This data will
prove crucial as Klein and his team carries out further upgrades and will be
especially useful as the company prepares for the impact of electric-vehicle
charging — for both EV inventory and customer convenience — on its energy costs
in the near future. Shell Energy’s data and perspective on the best times of day
and days of the week to do charging will help Penske moderate what will be
significant increases coming its way in terms of energy usage.
Next up, Turnersville’s energy-improvement roadmap navigates towards installing
LED lighting throughout its interior locations.
“We can take customers as far as they want to go — and we have plenty that have
net-zero
aspirations,”
Kaiser says. “But our approach is to sit down, develop a roadmap, and start down
a path in a very structured and sequential way. Yes, the sky is the limit. But
often, little but impactful projects can help organizations take a huge first
step towards meeting sustainability goals.”
Published Jul 8, 2022 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST
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Tom is founder of storytelling strategy firm Narrative Matters — which helps organizations develop content that truly engages audiences around issues of global social, environmental and economic importance. He also provides strategic editorial insight and support to help organisations – from large corporates, to NGOs – build content strategies that focus on editorial that is accessible, shareable, intelligent and conversation-driving.
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