A free Advanced Energy Design Guide for Grocery Stores is available via ASHRAE. The guide focuses on grocery stores ranging in size from 25,000 to 65,000 square feet with medium- and low-temperature refrigerated cases and walk-ins.
Refrigeration systems consume about half of the total energy consumed by a typical grocery store, and they interact with other building systems in a number of ways. One example is the heating load created by refrigerated cases without doors. Humidity control is another major issue. These interactions impact equipment performance and fresh food perishability.
Traditionally, the refrigeration and food service aspects are considered independently from the rest of the grocery store building systems, but an integrated approach in the guide looks at the building holistically and addresses issues such as: HVAC humidity levels that are critical to the performance of the refrigeration system, refrigeration system waste heat that can be used for hot water or conditioning the outside air, and food service operation that generates lots of heat that must be removed.
The guide is the fifth in a series to provide recommendations for achieving 50 percent energy savings over the minimum code requirements of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. In the case of this guide, all recommendations also meet or exceed Standard 90.1-2013.
