Carel won the prize in the ‘Building Energy Project’ category at the RAC Cooling Awards on October 4 for the case study on Italy’s largest retailer, which decided to invest in its HVAC systems at some of its stores, with the aim of reducing energy consumption. In absolute terms, energy savings across the six stores came to 440,107 kWh, corresponding to a cost saving of € 13,412 (or 12.83%). In environmental terms, atmospheric CO2 emissions were reduced by 198 tonnes. The investment will be paid back in 2.6 years, earlier than the initially-expected 3 years. Design and development of the final system were the result of careful analysis of an energy audit. Starting from this,
a machine learning method was developed for evaluating potential savings in different scenarios and for subsequent comparison between actual consumption and
estimated consumption without the improvement actions. The resulting comparison of the expected benefits in the various scenarios was used to support the management’s decisions on what actions to take to ensure store efficiency, in terms of overhauling the buildings-systems. Held this year for the 13th time, the RAC Cooling Industry Awards recognise leading innovations and environmental successes in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry.