Lighting

• Eliminate unneeded lights. More light isn't necessarily better. It's important to create contrast and focus areas to capture shoppers' attention.
• Replace incandescent bulbs with ENERGY STAR® compact fluorescent lights.
• Good nighttime outdoor lighting can give a sense of safety and security and create a more inviting shopping atmosphere. For outdoor lighting, use photosensors or timers and switch to high-pressure sodium, pulse-start metal halide or induction (QL) lamps (PGE Outdoor Lighting Services offers many options).
• Learn more about Lighting

Refrigeration

• Keep air curtain flow paths clear. Clean the honeycomb grilles and keep the return-air grilles open and free of product, labels, price tags, etc.
• Install vending machine controllers on cold drink machines. These can cut each machine’s annual electric bill 30 to 50 percent.
• Maintain strip curtains, door closers and door gaskets on coolers, freezers and cases. Minimize leaks from your cases. Why pay twice to keep your product cold and your floors comfortable?
• Replace older shaded pole evaporator fan motors. Newer and more efficient motors and controllers can provide a quick payback.
• Learn more about Refrigeration.

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning

• Implement a thermostat set-point policy and check thermostats to ensure they’re still programmed properly. Power outages, maintenance work, a low battery and unauthorized users may alter programming, which can undermine coordinated heating and cooling controls.
• Keep rear access doors closed when not in use. When left open unnecessarily, these pull outside air through the store, potentially boosting energy use for heating, cooling and refrigeration.
• Learn more about Heating & Cooling.

Employee involvement

• Create and implement an energy awareness program. Train staff to load coolers and freezers properly to ensure optimal airflow. This will let cooled air circulate properly — protecting your product and your customers’ safety, and saving you a bundle.
• Establish an “energy team” to identify and recommend opportunities to save energy. Increased energy awareness can be a powerful tool to generate new ideas and opportunities for savings.

How PGE can help

• Check out the PGE class schedule to take advantage of a variety of courses to enhance business practices and get expert advice on how to save energy and money.
• Contact the PGE Business Services team to arrange for a free PGE energy walkthrough. You’ll receive a written report identifying specific savings opportunities for your facility. We also can provide a third-party technical review of improvements you are considering.
• Track your energy use and bills to pinpoint savings opportunities. PGE’s Energy Information Services’ fee-based program offers monthly, daily and custom reporting options to help large customers identify problems and key opportunities.

Learn more
Find more energy-saving ideas for grocery in these sections:

• Smart Investments