Boots on energy saving drive
December 1st 2006

In an effort to dramatically reduce its electricity consumption, Boots is working with utility monitoring specialists Parasense to improve its energy management in 500 shops across the UK.

The purpose of the project is to create an energy profile for the stores which account for 75% of the High Street chemist's energy consumption. Armed with the data of where excessive electricity is being used, best practice measures can be implemented to realise significant savings.

Parasense advised Boots to opt for its Headline News service, an internet-based package that sorts data into meaningful and easy-toread reports. Boots' in-store energy meters collect data at half hourly intervals which is then routed to Parasense via CSV file where it is analysed against individual benchmarks and made available on a day+1 basis. Factors including store size, location, external temperature, humidity and trading hours all impact energy consumption and are integrated into each store's profile.The reports highlight exceptions over the benchmark value in three different categories: alert (3%), alarm (5%) and critical (10%).This allows accurate exception analysis to be achieved.

Andrew Jones, group energy manager at Boots explains: "Headline News will provide a major boost to our energy saving efforts. It is user friendly, accessible via the internet and, because the information is presented in easy to read reports, our store managers and energy champions will be able to pinpoint energy fluctuations. By targeting the larger users first,we will see measurable results in the short term.

"This is a critical step toward meaningful energy reduction – we have to know the facts to be able to identify faulty equipment, adjust our daily procedures and put into practice measures which will reduce our impact on the environment. It will also enable us to effectively negotiate rates with suppliers." According to Mike Cahill, key accounts manager with Parasense, "Boots recognises the business benefits of carbon management, automatic metering and targeting are the most effective ways to kick-start this initiative. Headline News is the ideal solution – it provides the most accurate data in a way that is easy to understand and substantiates the changes they need to make to see quantifiable performance results."

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