Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings: Las Arenas [Case Study]

The retail sector is undergoing numerous changes to achieve energy efficiency in commercial buildings, being more sustainable and convenient for the consumer.

Balancing these factors is not always easy. The comfort of the employees who spend hours in the shop has to be taken into account, as well as the comfort of the customers who come in and out during the day.

In addition, generalised energy price rises have a major impact on these establishments, especially when profit margins are tight.

In this article we review some characteristics of energy consumption in retail, illustrating it with the success story of the Las Arenas Shopping Centre in Barcelona.

Energy Consumption in Retail

When we talk about retail, we refer to establishments selling products to the end customer, from clothing to furniture, jewellery, decoration or toys. What do these shops have in common?

They all include space for customers to display products in stock, a warehouse to store spares, employees… In addition, they can have testers, test counters and even fountains and vegetation as part of the corporate image. The options are endless.

All these areas consume energy in one way or another. The largest area of energy consumption in retail is lighting, which accounts for almost half of the energy consumption. It is followed by air conditioning and ventilation, which also represent significant costs for shops.

The first step towards cost savings and energy efficiency includes an analysis of the situation: what do I consume and where? In which shops or areas can I start saving energy? Which energy efficiency measures can I implement?

Once you know how much and where you consume, you can start to make things concrete, decide what steps to take, and how much to involve yourself in the process. For example, you can go ahead with the installation of metering equipment, or with the renovation of your lighting system with energy-efficient LED lights. You have these options and hundreds more, depending on your needs and your energy efficiency goals. 

If in addition to becoming more energy efficient, you are interested in using technology and benefiting from the latest technologies, read this article on how technology can help you reduce energy costs in retail. You will see how an Energy Management System (EMS) such as the DEXMA Platform is useful to help you reduce your energy consumption and energy costs.

Case Study – Energy Management of the Las Arenas Shopping Centre

Las Arenas Shopping Centre is one of the most iconic shopping centres in the city of Barcelona. It occupies the building of the old bullring, in Plaza de España in front of the Montjuic fountain. Opened in 2011, it has more than 106,000 m2 of commercial space and more than 100 shops, as well as restaurants and multiplex cinemas.

The Energy Challenge

Each shop and establishment has its own policies in relation to the brand, its values and sustainability. In this case, the energy challenge is that of a shopping centre that has to manage and collect consumption from more than 100 locations in order to process the bills.

Water metre readings for these shops were a problem, as the connections were not working properly and had to be done manually each month, one by one.
For this reason, Las Arenas sought a solution to speed up the metering of the metres and improve their energy efficiency.

The Energy Management Solution

The solution came from JustaEnergia, which carried out an initial study of the problem and replaced the equipment that was not working with metres connected to Ethernet. 

For reading water consumption, meters were installed, all connected to allow remote monitoring via the DEXMA Platform solutions. Other services of the centre were also included in the DEXMA Platform to monitor the consumption of all the variables in the same place.

JustaEnergia carried out the design of the project in collaboration with the shopping centre’s maintenance team. Both teams continue to work together to further manage the energy project.

The Benefits of the Energy Management System

The main improvement for the client was the availability of real-time data. Having this data available has saved time for the team that had to check the metres manually, reducing the risk of errors in the data transfer, and speeding up the process.

Implementing an EMS and establishing consumption monitoring and control policies was also beneficial for Las Arenas beyond the management of consumption in its shops. They were able to save costs, and working hours as well as obtain quality certifications.

If you want to know more about energy management in the retail sector and the case of Las Arenas, download the Case Study below. 

In it, you can see in more detail the project and how JustaEnergia has helped Las Arenas shopping centre to manage its energy more efficiently. And don’t miss the other success stories in the resources section.