HOM Furniture

PLYMOUTH, MN | 180,000 SQ FT | RETAIL

ENERGY SAVINGS: COMPANY'S ENERGY STAR SCORE JUMPS FROM 54 TO 89 WITH NO OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

CHALLENGE:

HOM Furniture is one of the nation’s largest furniture retailers serving customers in the upper Midwest with an average store size of 100,000+ square feet. These retail shopping environments are typically one- or two-story buildings and operate seven days a week.

Since 2010, HOM has been tracking their utility and energy performance data for their portfolio of retail stores with EnergyPrint. They also leverage EnergyPrint’s Utility Dashboard, a cloud-based energy management software, to better understand their energy use and expenditures, prioritize improvements and prove results.

With energy as a top 3 operating expense for HOM, spending $227,967 annually on energy costs – Lighting / HVAC, etc., HOM proactively searched for ways to invest in cost-effective solutions to increase efficiency across their portfolio of retail stores.

SOLUTION:

With several aging buildings, HOM found Airoverse and saw the opportunity to optimize their existing 10-year-old RTU equipment with new Outside Air Optimization Economizer controls at their Plymouth showroom location. Additionally, smart sensor upgrades were added for each unit to allow for remote monitoring and control, as well as advanced scheduling and setback capabilities.

Advanced Outdoor Air Optimization works to limit the excessive outside air conditioning in addition to increasing the use of outside air during the spring and fall seasons when ideal conditions are present. Airoverse OAO is equipped with cloud computing data storage and processing power and is much more efficient than the standard economizer controller found in existing units. On average, the system provides almost 3x “free cooling” economizer hours per year versus a standard enthalpy economizer.

This site used a simple prescriptive rebate from Xcel Energy, providing $20 a ton for Advanced Economizer Controls ($4,400), and $100 per RTU ($2,200) for the addition of CO2 monitoring, bringing the total utility rebates to $6,600. With EnergyPrint’s Utility Dashboard as a guide, HOM benchmarked this building’s performance to monitor its monthly progress and validate savings results.

"EnergyPrint has shown me that Airoverse is performing above and beyond their conservative estimates on a regular basis. The two paired together just makes complete sense."

– JOHN P. / REAL ESTATE MANAGER

RESULTS:

The Utility Dashboard and the Airoverse HVAC controls upgrade have saved the Plymouth site more than $49,700 within the first year of installation! This equated to a 21.1% drop in energy costs and a 21.4% drop in energy consumption for the building, which was far ahead of projected pre-installation calculations.

The collaboration between Airoverse and EnergyPrint provides HOM with the ability to implement affordable solutions to improve building efficiency and prove financial results. Additionally, EnergyPrint’s Utility Dashboard gives the HOM team a wide view of their portfolio so they can easily identify other properties where Airoverse solutions could be beneficial.

HOM Furniture’s Real Estate Manager was impressed with the rapid energy savings, reporting that in the last year, they’ve had a 21.1% reduction in energy costs, a 21.4% reduction in energy consumption and total savings of over $49,700. “The amount of savings and impact Airoverse has had on our business speaks volumes and sells itself, ” he remarked.