Sodimac Case: Energy Coach

4 minutes

By Libelula hace 9 year

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Sodimac has carried out various actions focused on reducing the negative environmental impacts of its offices and stores. As part of the progress, which includes measuring the carbon footprint for 2014 and 2015 at the corporate level, Sodimac has implemented the “Energy Coach” pilot project in the Javier Prado store, with the support of Libélula. This pilot allowed us to reduce electricity consumption through simple actions at no cost, which generated a reduction in the costs associated with electricity consumption, as well as a reduction in the store's carbon footprint.

What is the Energy Coach Pilot Project?

The Energy Coach Pilot Project, implemented in the Javier Prado store, is a demonstration project that consists of measuring and monitoring energy consumption in order to identify, together with the store's employees, simple and cost-free actions to reduce electricity consumption. The project was carried out between April and July 2016, in 3 stages:

Energy consumption diagnostics. During the diagnostic stage, monitoring equipment was temporarily installed in the Javier Prado store, which allowed us to obtain real-time information (every 5 minutes) on electricity consumption, both for lighting and air conditioning. It should be noted that for this diagnosis, employees were not informed about the work performed, so that there are no alterations in the normal consumption of electricity.
Identification and implementation of activities. With the information on the behavior of electricity consumption collected in the previous stage, actions to be implemented to reduce energy consumption were determined with the help of the store personnel. To do this, we first identified the days and hours on which the lowest electricity consumption was reported, identifying and listing the actions taken at these times, in order to be able to replicate them, achieving an efficient use of energy.
Analysis of results. At this stage, the electricity consumption of the diagnostic month or base month (April) was compared with the energy consumption during the implementation of activities (May and June). This comparison showed how much the store's energy use decreased, expressed in kWh and soles, and the reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was estimated.

What results were obtained in the Energy Coach Pilot Project?

During the energy consumption diagnosis stage, it was established that the Javier Prado store had a monthly savings potential of 33,695.28 kilowatt-hours (kwh), equivalent to 6,254.84 soles. Likewise, upon analyzing the results, it was observed that during the implementation stage of activities, savings of 16,211.78 kwh, equivalent to 2,963.72 soles, were achieved during the month of May; and 36,711.92 kwh, equivalent to 6,707.27 soles, during the month of June, exceeding the monthly savings potential by 8.1%.

This reduction in energy consumption also led to a reduction in the store's carbon footprint: 3.77 t CO2eq during the month of May and 8.54 t CO2eq during the month of June.

What are the next steps?

Given that the pilot was carried out in a single store, the potential for reducing impacts - and costs - at a national level is significant. This is why we have proposed to develop a comprehensive Energy Management model for all Sodimac stores and offices, which allows the constant search for energy savings, cost reduction and reduction of the carbon footprint. This model includes not only monitoring and managing information on electricity consumption, verification of energy performance, and energy auditing, but also incorporates a strong component of training and coaching of employees, since it is precisely people who can generate the changes that are needed.