Monitoring and simulation help John Lewis save energy
A combination of real-time energy monitoring and advanced HVAC simulation played a key role in identifying and verifying the effectives of energy-saving measures for stores of the John Lewis Partnership. Using this approach and Integrated Environmental Solutions’ Virtual Environment software enables Lateral Technologies to save the retailer 2.3 GWh of gas, 5.5 GWh of electricity and 3300 t of carbon.
The ongoing savings across 21 stores so far include a 24% saving in gas and an 11% saving in electricity. There has also been a 17% saving in the consumption of district-heating/cooling energy. Carbon savings to date are 12.3%.
The brief for Lateral Technologies was to identify potential energy-saving measures and implement them by making alterations to building-management systems in the stores. In addition, the energy consumption of each store was monitored as part of an ongoing evaluation to identify improvements while isolating out-of-the-ordinary spikes in power-consumption.
Each John Lewis store was modelled using IES Apache software to analyse data primarily collated from site inspections to gain an insight into energy performance. This process made it possible to closely replicate the effects of modify the building-management system and thus highlight areas of inefficiency. Lateral Technologies continues to track building performance against the predicted savings.
Lateral Technologies is discussing with IES incorporating its VE Scan technology to enable real-time model calibration and energy monitoring in future work with John Lewis and other clients.
