Annex 31 - Advanced modeling and tools for analysis of energy use in supermarket systems

 

Introduction

Supermarkets are the most energy intensive buildings in the commercial sector. It has been estimated that 3-5 % of the total use of electricity stems from supermarkets in industrialized countries. The energy systems are complex and large efficiency improvements are possible if a better understanding of design and operation of these systems can be acquired. In addition, it is estimated that the annual refrigerant losses are as high as 15 - 30% of the total charge thus making supermarkets to the no2 emission source after mobile air conditioning. The supermarket sector has therefore a significant role to play not only from the point of view of the energy consumed but also from the point of view of the impact of refrigerant leakage.

 

The overarching objective of the new Annex is to provide new knowledge, methods and tools for enhanced energy efficiency and thus reduced environmental impact from supermarkets. The aim is also to share ideas and best practises among participation countries.

• Start date: January 2006
• End date: 31 December 2009

Objectives

The Annex aims are described in the legal text, available upon request from the operating agent or the Heat Pump Centre. In short they can be summarized in the following bullets:

• The aim of the Annex is to increase the level of understanding of the interaction between the refrigeration system and the indoor climate as well as HVAC system and the building envelope. The aim will be approached by the development of reasonable accurate simulation tools that can be used to assist in the analysis of the energy performance and in the development of energy efficient strategies for supermarkets.

• The Annex also aims also at the development of (easy to use) indices for energy use and environmental impact for different countries and systems. Methods for comparisons between different regions and climates will be developed.

Project manager and participating countries

The Operating Agent is the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden, which will have close collaboration with SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden.

The participating countries are: Canada, Germany Sweden UK and USA.

National contact(s) can be found here. ››› 

 

Other countries are currently considering joining the annex and interested parties are encouraged to contact the operating agent, your national delegate within IEA or HPC directly.

 

Activities

The following task-sharing activities are planned to be carried out by the participants:

Task 1

Collection of available data from different supermarkets (benchmarking)

Task 2

Development of performance indices for supermarkets

Task 3

Development and validation of a model library for specific supermarket equipment

Task 4

Development of whole-building simulation models.

Task 5

Comparison of the results obtained with the different whole-building simulation models for selected case studies

Task 6

Future perspectives and possibilities

Task 7

Deployment of the knowledge developed (indices, guidelines, papers, fact sheets)

Information

More information about Annex 31 can be found here ››› (PDF file) and on the Annex 31 website http://www.energy.kth.se/index.asp?pnr=10&ID=1270&lang=1
 

Publications

The deliverables of the Annex will include:

• Indices, guidelines, papers and fact sheets
• Workshops
• Final report on CD including national reports
• Intermediate reports produced in tasks 1-6
• Extended executive summary for a broad audience

 

Last updated: 2008-06-30

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