The Situation

Refrigeration accounts for more than 50% of the total electricity spend for most grocery retailers. Most retailers have already addressed the “low-hanging fruit” opportunities like LED lighting and display case door retrofits. In the face of ongoing mandates to reduce energy consumption each year, many energy managers are actively searching for the “next big energy savings opportunity”. It is a challenge for even the most sophisticated operators to continually optimize energy performance across hundreds or even thousands of stores.

A mid-sized specialty grocer knew that their refrigeration systems were capable of more efficient operations, but the savings opportunities were buried within the massive amount of data and alerts generated by their refrigeration controllers. They turned to Axiom's AI-powered continuous commissioning capabilities to identify and target high-impact energy efficiency opportunities while maintaining food safety and quality standards.

Key Challenges

Identifying hidden opportunities: Many refrigeration energy inefficiencies remain hidden as systems are able to maintain target temperatures - they just maintain setpoints by wasting energy use through increased equipment runtimes
Prioritizing actions: Facility operators for large portfolios of sites struggle to identify and prioritize energy savings opportunities buried in massive amounts of data collected from refrigeration controllers and IoT devices.
Maintaining savings over time: Energy efficiency measures are rarely “set it and forget it.” Energy performance can drift by as much as 2% annually without effective monitoring and continuous commissioning.
Restoring optimal refrigeration controller settings after service calls: Optimal energy efficiency settings (including floating head/suction pressure algorithms) are routinely disabled by technicians during maintenance and repairs, then never re-enabled when service work is completed. This creates hidden, ongoing energy waste that persists undetected across ~70% of facilities.
Adapting to changing conditions: Control settings aren't updated as equipment ages or store layouts change.
Conducting routine maintenance to support efficiency: Maintenance issues like fouled condenser coils and inadequate airflow go undetected for months or years
Identifying site-specific opportunities: Some advanced energy efficiency strategies are site-specific (such as rebalancing load between HVAC, dehumidification RTUs, and refrigeration) and require significant engineering expertise to properly implement

The Solution

This grocery chain deployed Axiom Cloud's AI-powered Energy Efficiency Module to over 100 specialty grocery stores. Because refrigeration represents >50% of their energy consumption, working with a refrigeration-focused AI company like Axiom was the obvious choice to drive energy savings. The solution was seamlessly integrated with their existing refrigeration controllers and required no new hardware.

Axiom's platform continuously monitors refrigeration system performance and identifies opportunities to optimize energy usage while maintaining food safety. The solution autonomously discovers high-value savings opportunities, starting with simple but critical actions like restoring optimal controller settings after service calls—including re-enabling floating head/suction pressure algorithms that technicians routinely disable during maintenance. Beyond these foundational optimizations, Axiom identifies advanced, store-specific opportunities such as correcting temperature setpoints based on product mix, rebalancing HVAC/dehumidification/refrigeration loads, and implementing geography-specific control strategies. Critically, the solution also monitors performance over time to ensure that savings persist, automatically detecting when technicians have disabled efficiency settings during service calls and prioritizing corrective actions to restore enterprise-wide energy savings. Each efficiency opportunity is tailored to each store's unique equipment configuration and geographical location.

Axiom's platform also provided value beyond energy efficiency opportunities. The solution also provides a projected value for each savings opportunity as well as recommended actions to take to capture the energy savings. These insights help facility management teams to prioritize maintenance tasks that have the greatest energy savings impact.

Results and Benefits

In the first 12 months following implementation, the grocer experienced significant improvements:

Energy Savings: 43 energy efficiency anomalies were identified and addressed, delivering $158,600 in annual cost savings and reducing electric usage by 755,000 kWh.
Carbon Footprint Reduction: Energy optimization resulted in 295 metric tons of CO₂e emissions reduction, helping the retailer progress toward their sustainability goals.
Continuous Commissioning: Axiom provided the benefits of continuous commissioning at a fraction of the traditional cost, thus avoiding the typical 2% annual energy performance drift that occurs without proactive monitoring.
Improved Equipment Longevity: More efficient operation reduced equipment runtimes and wear and tear, extending the useful life of costly refrigeration equipment.
Optimized Maintenance Prioritization: The facilities team effectively prioritized maintenance tasks with the highest energy impact, maximizing their limited resources.
Geographic Optimization: Energy efficiency strategies were automatically tailored to each location's refrigeration system design and climate to maximize savings.

Distribution of Energy Efficiency Anomalies by Type

Key Insights

Recommissioning dominated (21 anomalies): Nearly 49% of all energy waste came from settings that had drifted from optimal configurations over time
Controller optimization (9 anomalies): Refrigeration controller anomalies represented the second-largest opportunity, highlighting the importance of proper system configuration
Equipment maintenance (11 anomalies): Condenser and compressor issues combined accounted for 26% of anomalies, emphasizing the energy impact of equipment maintenance
Proactive detection: AI-powered monitoring identified issues before they caused temperature failures or food safety concerns

Conclusion

This grocer's success with Axiom Cloud's Energy Efficiency Module demonstrates the significant untapped potential in refrigeration energy optimization. By leveraging AI and data-driven insights, they transformed their approach to energy management, achieving substantial cost savings while advancing their sustainability objectives.

For grocery retailers facing similar challenges, Axiom's Energy Efficiency Module offers a scalable solution that delivers immediate energy savings without requiring new hardware or specialized in-house expertise. In an industry where margins are thin and operational costs continue to rise, intelligent refrigeration optimization provides a clear path to improved profitability and environmental performance.

Review the full case study here.

Case Study: How a Specialty Grocery Retailer Reduced Energy Costs in 100+ Stores with Axiom Cloud's Energy Efficiency Module