Investigation and analysis of power consumption in convenience stores in Taiwan

Abstract

By using a remote energy-conserving monitoring system, this study investigated the power consumption data of 30 convenience stores in northern, central, and southern Taiwan. Data collected comprised the temperature, humidity, and power consumption data of air conditioning, freezer and refrigerator, lighting, and heating equipment. In addition, factors that affected the power consumption of the stores were examined by collecting the basic information of each store, including total floor area, location, sales revenue, and number of customers visited. The results revealed that the average annual energy use intensity in a convenience store in Taiwan was 2346kWh/m2/year, which was significantly higher than those of office buildings and hotels. The power consumption of the four types of investigated convenience stores is arranged in a descending order as follows: convenience stores in commercial areas, residential areas, suburban areas, and strategic road areas. The demand use intensity of food storage equipment (i.e., freezers and refrigerators) was the highest among the investigated types of equipment in the convenience stores, at 88.58W/m2. Therefore, the first priority for improving energy conservation is to replace old and outdated food storage equipment with efficient units. Finally, a power consumption model for convenience stores was formulated through the examined power-consuming factors, and may serve as a reference for forecasting the power consumption of planned convenience stores.