Combined carbon and energy intensity benchmarks for sustainable retail stores

Abstract

Retail stores are amongst the building typologies with the highest carbon (CI) and energy intensities (EI). However, previous studies have only explored the EI of food and non-food retailers. This study is the first of its kind to examine the link between CI and EI. Establishing the nature of this link will allow a deeper understanding of how to decarbonize the retail sector. Here, we hypothesised whether in retail low EI correlated with low CI and how corporate revenue affected these variables. "Best practice" and "conventional practice" benchmarks were then developed to assess retail buildings' sustainability. These represent missing and highly desirable tools in retail sustainable management. Average EI and CI of food retailers were twice that of non-food retailers (EI-548 vs 238 kWh/m 2 /y; CI266 vs 132 kg CO₂eq/m 2 /y). The correlation found between EI and CI indicates that low energy consumption leads to low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CI variability resulted mostly of energyefficiency strategies, of the energy production process and of GHG emissions from refrigeration systems. EI variability resulted mostly from store typology, volume and usage. The proposed benchmarks help to set energy and carbon reference performance levels in retail buildings and to stimulate best sustainable practice amongst retailers.

Analysis and Evaluation of the Regional Characteristics of Carbon Emission Efficiency for China

“…As for the standard of measurement of CEE, the single-factor CEE was initially defined as the ratio of GDP to carbon emissions in an input-output system, such as the amount of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP, which was used to evaluate the impact on the environment in the process of developing economy [3]. Some scholars used indicators such as carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy, energy consumption per unit of GDP, and carbon dioxide emissions per capita of GDP to evaluate the efficiency of carbon emissions [4][5][6]. However, the single-factor CEE above is only a combination of the three factors of carbon dioxide, economic growth, and energy consumption.…”

Research on carbon emission efficiency in the Chinese construction industry based on a three-stage DEA-Tobit model

“…Yamaji et al (1993) proposed evaluating carbon productivity by using single-element indicators to estimate CEE. Since then, some scholars have used various single-element evaluation indicators to measure the CEE; these include the ratio of gross national product (GNP) to total carbon emissions, unit energy of carbon emissions and unit gross domestic product (GDP) of energy consumption (Long et al 2016;Pretis and Roser 2017;Ferreira et al 2018;Vujović et al 2018).…”

Energy Sustainability of Food Stores and Supermarkets through the Installation of PV Integrated Plants

“…Enhanced utilization of daylight, or a combination of natural and mechanical ventilation with improved control, improved refrigeration cabinets, with doors on frozen food cabinets or an acceptance of a wider range of internal temperatures as efficiency measures proved to have a wide impact on the final energy use of such structures [26]. The various efficiency measures mentioned, including HVAC system management, renovation of the lighting system with LED technology and the use of more efficient refrigeration units, as for example the systematic use of cabinet with automatic closing doors, can be important in order to determine a reduction of the EI [11,12].…”

“…The integration of renewable energy systems (RES) as active measures for energy production appears a reasonable step in conjunction with the aforementioned strategies. The relevant amount of electricity used in supermarkets, focused in daytime, makes it easier to move towards a net Zero Energy Building (nZEB) configuration and to pursue objectives of intelligent use of sustainable resources [11,12]. Moreover, energy system integration grows in importance requiring the services of technologies such as storage as a key enabler, both at a central level and distributed for flexible consumers.…”