Challenge

Leaders at a national retail company needed a way to manage multiple vendors and HVAC system brands and integrate accompanying data. Unfortunately, because a traditional enterprise management system doesn’t work across multiple HVAC system brands, it wouldn’t meet their needs. They needed a way to manage “brand discordant” HVAC solutions to achieve their energy reduction goals.

Solution

Retail leaders turned to Trane based on a proven track record of successful projects and a longstanding relationship with its energy experts who had managed hundreds of the retailer’s large multi-level stores for nearly 20 years.

Customized Enterprise Management Strategy

To help the retailer overcome its current enterprise management challenges — self-dubbed “vendor chaos” — the Trane team proposed developing a customized portfolio management tool (PMT) that could integrate data from multiple brands of controls and equipment into one central platform.

The proposed customized platform would tap internal and external sources to provide tailored building management for each location based on factors as diverse as store- and personnel-specific scheduling, the local weather forecast and use of energy demand response which curtails energy usage at the energy provider’s request.

The retailer liked the idea and asked the Trane team to make it happen. The Trane team used a “full court press” to engineer the customized PMT with demonstrated return on investment (ROI) in savings and rebates. They created a framework for analytics, alarm management, schedule automation, corporate set point standards and reporting.

The Trane team also led a collaborative service and maintenance effort working with existing vendors and the customer’s internal energy group. The Trane team worked with this vendor group to tap the targeted data that would help effectively manage building performance. Once developed, the new PMT was “road tested” using that data, and it demonstrated strong performance. The PMT successfully integrated multiple brands of controls and equipment into a central platform with 24/7 remote and onsite visibility shared with the customer and Trane.

Examples of data incorporated into the PMT include:

• CO2 sensors optimize ventilation based on actual occupancy, rather than a constant schedule.
• Information streamed from local weather stations automates free cooling and economizing modes which means using natural cooling instead of mechanical conditioning.
• Astronomical tables are used to drive exterior signage and lighting based on sunrise, sunset and daylength. In some instances, they can even be used to control nighttime economizing and daytime cooling and heating.
• As-needed system scheduling integrates with company software for point of sale, employee scheduling, store hours, special events and department hours.
• Collaboration with electric utilities through energy aggregators enabling the demand response program 
• Digital detection of energy-wasting problems helps to reduce the cost consequences by initiating service and maintenance sooner.
• Technology-enabled building performance data is used to optimize facility operation.
• Multi-vendor controls and communications protocols enable normalized energy management across the enterprise.

“It was exciting to be able to develop a brand-agnostic portfolio management tool that aligned the vendor chaos into a coherent, powerful data stream,” said Trane Key Account Program Manager, John DuBay. “We believe it to be the first of its kind. The PMT really demonstrates the power of data and how, when properly leveraged, it can truly optimize energy-saving building performance across an enterprise.”

Results

The collaborative energy management undertaking with Trane proved a game changer for the retailer, driving significant savings. Tested across 600 retail locations, the PMT is generating up to a 20 percent energy reduction from baseline each year, saving $5 million annually across the enterprise.

Other benefits of the PMT include:

• Better real-time data has driven proactive repairs/replacements and streamlined work order management
• Alarm management capabilities have also resulted in proactive repairs and replacements helping to reduce labor costs and carbon-generating truck rolls
• The retailer also received ENERGY STAR® certification and won an Environmental Protection Agency award for its environmental performance due in large part to the energy-saving improvements driven by the PMT

The retailer and the Trane team continue to regularly collaborate, identifying new ways to optimize and expand the open-platform PMT and other assets and resources. “Energy management isn’t one and done,” said DuBay. “It requires ongoing attention. This retailer understands that challenge, and our joint efforts enable us to truly excel at resolving it – repeatedly.”