Centralization slashes Service's utility costs - Service Merchandise Company Inc. installs Logic One, building management system

Discount Store News, June 17, 1991

Centralization Slashes Service's Utility Costs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - How does saving 20% to 25% on energy costs sound to you?

That's the savings that cataloger Service Merchandise has shown in many showrooms as its Energy Management Department (EMD), charged with controlling utility costs, began phasing in a sophisticated, computerized building management system.

That system is Novar Controls' Logic One building management system, currently installed in approximately 150 showrooms, the cataloger's 350,000-square-foot headquarters here and the 800,000-square-foot Montgomery, N.Y. distribution center.

About 10 showrooms a month are being retrofitted with Logic One. By January 1993, the control system is due to be rolled out in all but about two dozen showrooms - mainly leased units in shopping centers where the cataloger pays a prorated share of energy and other costs or buys utility services from the landlord.

Logic One controls HVAC and lighting at each location through a network of independent direct digital control modules and sensors and a stand-alone microcomputer executive controller (EC), which is the overall network manager.

The EC correlates the information from the modules and sensors - data on indoor and outdoor temperature, lighting levels and operation of HVAC and other equipment - to optimize the network's performance. Store employees can override the EC when needed.

Logic One maintains temperatures in 13 different zones in the showrooms through electronic thermostat modules, which control rooftop air conditioning units, and by monitoring and controlling warehouse space heaters and, in some showrooms, gas or electric boilers. The system monitors running time for fan, heating and cooling stages, indoor and outdoor temperatures, electrical demand and emergency starts of equipment.

Implementing energy-saving operational schedules and adjusting temperature as needed has reduced electric demand and equipment run time.

In the winter, temperature is maintained at 72 degrees during store hours and 68 degrees in unoccupied times; in the summer, the temperature is set at 75 degrees while showrooms are open and 80 degrees during unoccupied times.

Logic One's internal safety features include built-in alarms for air flow failures, temperature drifts and equipment malfunction. If power is interrupted, the system shuts down designated loads to protected equipment from all types of phase failures.

Logic One is also tied into the showroom's safety system, shutting down the HVAC in case of a fire.

Logic One turns on five levels of interior and exterior lighting according to programmed schedules and photo cell readings. As a result, lighting is operated on an as-needed basis to conserve energy.

EMD personnel in Nashville can check and make program changes in Logic One at any location through the personal computer used to monitor and control the system. Dial-up land lines connect the EMD to the Logic One system in each showrooms.

Service Merchandise is among a dozen retailers deploying the Logic One system, with the others including Wal-Mart, Kmart, Montgomery Ward, Ross Stores, Circuit City and Office Depot.

The cataloger and Novar Controls have jointly pioneered a Systems Performance Report (SPR), a computer-produced report card with detailed information about the performance of the electrical/mechanical system in each showrooms.

Logic One logs such information as HVAC and lighting system run times and system overrides. Novar Controls developed the SPR software program that captures and analyzes this information. Service Merchandise uses SPR for tighter control over its utility costs, such as informing store managers about the savings obtained from Logic One and the cost of overriding the system. The report also allows the cataloger to evaluate the impact of energy conservation programs.

Novar Control in the future plans to include the SPR as part of its standard Logic One package.

Pat Renaldi, Service Merchandise's director of energy management and head of EMD, said "there's no downside using Logic One. Novar has been extremely responsive to our needs and pioneered a number of its products and enhancements at Service, including SPR."

He said that the Logic One system has reduced utility costs by 20% to 25% in computerized showrooms as compared to non-automated stores.

Logic One's distributed processing and self-diagnostic system and modular components, he added, have reduced downtime and repair costs. Repairs take no more than a day, as "we send the modules to Novar. The repair costs never exceed $100, with our history showing $25 as the average cost per year for system repairs."

EMD is the key to Service Merchandise's drive to control its utility costs. The department, working with the cataloger's in-house MIS department, has developed a number of software programs to monitor energy costs and undertake sophisticated analysis of these expenses.

"Utility ranks as the fourth largest controllable showroom expense," Renaldi said. "The first step to managing this expense is to measure costs and consumption. If you know your costs, you can decide how you want to contain them and what methods of control you want to use."