News

Overview

1st Rochdale Cooperative Group created Direct Connection I, to provide consumers with the energy management and information systems that allow them to manage their electrical consumption based on real-time and day-ahead market prices. The Energy Management program of 1st Rochdale Cooperative Group Inc. used new 'energy smart' technology to help its customer, Dairyland, USA, reduce its energy costs while improving the quality of its operations. Dairyland, USA is a wholesale food distributor based in the Hunts Point district of the Bronx. Dairyland teamed up with 1st Rochdale to install an Energy Management System (EMS) to control energy usage while improving the quality of Dairyland's product — food. The EMS paid for itself in just over 1 year while saving Dairyland, USA more than $1,000,000 over 10 years.

Facility Description

Dairyland, USA is a wholesale fine food warehouse and distribution facility located in the Bronx, New York. Totaling 100,000 square feet and growing, this facility has 22,000 square feet of refrigeration/freezer storage space.

Electricity Profile

At the time this project began, Dairyland, USA had a peak load of approximately 500 kW and annual consumption of 2.5 million kWh. Freezers and refrigeration consume the bulk of the electricity at Dairyland, USA, although the electricity needed to recharge batteries in the electric forklifts is significant as well. Business growth has resulted in the need for additional cooling, battery charging, and lighting capacity. As a result, the facility load is now in excess of 600 kW.

Energy Retrofit: Energy Management System

1st Rochdale and its partners, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and Energy Consulting Services, installed a Danfoss electronic refrigeration control system at Dairyland, USA. The control system now more efficiently monitors the temperature as well as the operation of the compressors in the chilled spaces. Energy Consulting Services also upgraded lighting systems and implemented a new management strategy for recharging electric forklift batteries during off-peak periods. The system cost of $165,000 will be recouped in less than 2 years — an impressive return on investment in the food industry. Over 10 years, the system will save Dairyland, USA over $1,000,000 while improving grid reliability and reducing emissions from their operations. The system also provides Dairyland, USA management with the ability to monitor and control their refrigeration systems from remote locations and receive a security call if temperatures in the space are outside normal operating ranges.

By moving part of its food production, Hebrew National Kosher Foods Inc. received a 60 percent discount on its electric demand rate, but left its energy management system behind. The food company then asked the design and install engineering firm that had installed the system — Energy Consulting Services (ECS) Inc., New York City — to duplicate the EMS at the new location and to improve upon it. The improvement was the addition of an extensive alarm capability that is preventing costly losses in food spoilage at the new production and cold storage facility, according to ECS president Jack Davidoff. By hardwiring 16 analog input points to the system, the plant's freezer and cooler temperatures can be monitored continuously. When the temperature drifts above setpoint limits, the EMS generates an alarm signal and calls assigned phone numbers.

System Details

Both the original 54-point system and the new 20-point system were designed and installed by Energy Consulting Services. The new 20-point system was hardwired. The alarm function is activated by analog sensors — when a sensor diagnoses that a low or high limit setpoint is exceeded in the cooler, freezer, or office to which it is assigned, the corresponding digital output point activates an alarm, which dials out to three locations: the ECS office, an alarm company, and the VP of engineering's home. The EMS control strategies, which schedule about 20 points of coolers, freezers, air conditioners, and pasteurizers used to sterilize kosher pickles, will save an additional $20,000 per year.

Goody Products, in seeking an energy management system, bypassed the branch offices of major equipment manufacturers and made its decision based on its regard for the efforts of a local contractor. Energy Consulting Services (ECS), New York, offered the lowest bid, but the user said that his decision was influenced even more by the contractor's thoroughness in his assessment of the Goody facility. According to John Snyder, director of office services for Goody: "Other vendors simply did a walk-through and based their bids on that. Jack Davidoff — the president of ECS — went up to the ceiling, crawled around in back, made measurements, and came in at night to see what was happening, and their estimates were based on 'experience' not data."

Results

The installation, completed in January, paid for itself in avoided gas and electricity costs in seven months. The EMS has reduced kilowatt hour consumption by almost 12 percent and demand charges by almost 9 percent in the eight months since installation. Natural gas consumption has dropped 12 percent. The initial success of the project has led Goody to hire ECS for energy conservation projects in four other locations, with a total budget of $300,000 to $350,000 for such projects. ECS will provide recommendations and construction management at new office and warehouse sites in Dallas, Beaumont (CA), Columbus (OH), and Manchester (GA).

Flue Gas Heat Exchanger

After being hired to install the electronic energy management and control system, ECS proposed and installed a flue gas heat exchanger. Although initial estimates indicated a payback of about two years, the system has saved over $36,000 in the first eight months and is expected to save $60,000 annually. The stack economizer is a welded steel heat exchanger installed in the flue stack that reclaims heat from a process steam boiler — lowering exiting flue gas temperature by 100 degrees and preheating 18 gallons of water per minute before it re-enters the boiler.