many offer rebates or incentives for the installation of energy
management systems that control this load, which allows them
to defer capital investment to increase capacity."
One area where Cree is making significant strides in LED
innovation is simplification. Installation and ease-of-use
are extremely important in driving adoption of any new
technology.
"Convenience store owners should pay particular attention
to the total cost of ownership for LED lighting solutions—
including initial costs, lifetime savings and customer
satisfaction," Bhorjai says. "These qualities can help operators
assess the overall value of the upgrade and help them to identify
the best LED lighting solutions for their operations."
Wallace says some additional future changes to energy
management systems that c-store owners and operators need
to keep in mind include:
Energy management systems are expanding into
controlling and interacting with kitchen equipment. "We are
seeing more commercial kitchens in c-stores," Wallace says.
Kitchen equipment can have a significant impact on energy
consumption. An energy management system that is able to
interact with and control the kitchen equipment can insure
that the systems are optimized and operated in the most
efficient manner.
www.npnweb.com n NPN Magazine
Further advances in control strategies by utilizing data or
sensors that have not traditionally been available.
Providing a Web and mobile-friendly user interface that is
easy to use and tailored to the persons using it. For example,
a role-based user interface would be configured differently
for a store manager as opposed to a refrigeration technician.
This allows it to provide the right information to the right
person quickly and not force them to go through unneeded
information to get what they need.
Seamless interaction with cloud services to make management
of the entire enterprise easier. For instance, someone that
manages many stores may need to coordinate changes to the
store opening time across all stores (hence affecting the lighting,
HVAC, and other equipment at the store). Internet-based
software can make this easy to accomplish by providing a simple
user interface for the manager to utilize to make the change. The
software then automatically makes the change at all stores.
"These systems will be the next big move," Matthews-Smith
says. "After the industry has made their move to LED, then they
will look for the next way to cut costs. If they haven't already
jumped on board the energy management bandwagon, they
will be looking for ways at that point to minimize their energy
costs further. The key is to cut costs without hurting their brand
image."
JULY/AUGUST 2013
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