H&M: Utility and Landlord Collaboration Help Secure Rebates (RILA Retail Energy Management Program)
H&M is a multinational clothing-retail company that operates more than 4,400 stores in 71 global markets, including 575 stores in the United States. H&M is committed to sustainability and eager to capture energy efficiency opportunities across its store portfolio. In particular, the company realized a significant need to retrofit HVAC rooftop units (RTUs) for many of their stores and worked with Transformative Wave to help analyze and implement RTU retrofits. They initially retrofitted RTUs at store locations where H&M is directly metered as the utility customer and then moved on to locations where the landlord is the direct utility customer. They worked with landlords and utilities to execute pass-through letters and access utility programs for efficiency improvements. In the subset of 25 stores considered for retrofits, H&M was able to take advantage of utility rebates for retrofitting RTUs and performed measurement and verification for savings in 12 locations with an average of 36,000 kWh savings per store. The retrofits conservatively provide an estimated $2,500 per store in financial savings annually. To view the full PDF version of this implementation model, click here.
H&M improved their store energy efficiency by collaborating with landlords and utilities to apply incentive dollars to retrofit HVAC rooftop units, saving approximately $2,500 per store annually.
BARRIER
Utility incentives to improve store efficiency are often prohibitively difficult for retailers to apply for when the shopping center landlord owns the utility account.
SOLUTION
Collaborate with landlords and utilities who provide improved processes for tenants who are not utility account owners to still apply for incentives.
OUTCOME
H&M improved store energy efficiency by collaborating with landlords and utilities to apply incentive dollars to retrofit HVAC RTUs. H&M was able to take advantage of utility rebates for approximately 40% of its identified retrofit projects and save approximately $2,500 per store annually, with the remainder ripe for landlord and utility rebate process improvements.
