Supporting sustainability for a global restaurant chain

One of the UK’s most popular global restaurant chains has been partnering with npower Business Solutions (nBS) since 2010 to find ways to decrease its substantial and growing energy costs and support the business’s wider sustainable business goals.

The team at nBS started by ensuring that its client had accurate and timely data to monitor performance and then measure the effectiveness of any energy efficiency initiatives

Thanks to detailed data collection and nBS’s innovative Intelligent Analytics energy management platform, multiple sites are now tracked using real-time data. It is also possible to drill down into Half-Hourly (HH) data for more detailed analysis, for example, to see if lights or equipment have been left on, or the settings on the Building Management System (BMS) are not optimal.

This consumption visibility also makes it possible to assess the effectiveness of each new energy efficiency measure implemented – for example, installing timers and temperature thermostats or cleaning the condensers on refrigerators.

Tracking trends and ranking multiple sites

The Intelligent Analytics software provides the customer with regular reports, so that it can look at trends and rankings for multiple sites and can then adjust these for variables such as weather variations or number of customers served. Data can also be analysed per customer rather than by square metre, which gives the restaurant chain a more accurate assessment from which to compare performance.

Using Intelligent Analytics has supported this client in becoming 27% more energy efficient since 2007, in terms of kilowatt hours (kWh) per customer.

Getting sites involved

The Energy HQ Team at nBS also regularly visits client sites to help managers better understand invoicing and identify energy efficiency opportunities.