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Energy Benchmarking Data Snapshots for Food Retail

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Food retail buildings

ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® is a tool used to track the energy use of 30,500 buildings in Canada. Energy benchmarking can help identify opportunities to save on energy costs and reduce environmental impact. This document provides a snapshot of the Canadian data for food retail entered into Portfolio Manager as of December 2022.

Population overview

Quick facts

  • 475 buildings
  • 1.75 million m2 floor area
  • 2.1 GJ/m2 median site energy use intensity (EUI)
  • 3.4 GJ/m2 median source EUI
  • 0 ENERGY STAR certified buildings
Map of Canada with numbers displayed over province and territories
Text version - population overview map
Population overview
Province or Territory Number of buildings benchmarking
Alberta 40
British Columbia 125
Manitoba 45
New Brunswick <20
Newfoundland and Labrador <20
Nova Scotia 30
Northwest Territories <20
Nunavut <20
Ontario 150
Prince Edward Island <20
Quebec 40
Saskatchewan <20
Yukon <20

Fuel and population breakdown

Figure 1. Total energy use breakdown

Pie chart - total energy use breakdown
Text version - total energy use breakdown
Total energy use breakdown
Fuel Energy use breakdown
Electricity 64%
On-site Electricity <1%
Natural Gas 34%
Fuel Oil <1%
District Steam <1%
District Chilled Water <1%
Propane <1%
Other <1%

Table 1. Benchmarking by province and territory

Benchmarking by province and territory
Province or territory Buildings Floor area(m2) Certified
Alberta 40 150,000 0
British Columbia 125 400,000 0
Manitoba 45 <100,000 0
New Brunswick <20 <100,000 0
Newfoundland and Labrador <20 <100,000 0
Nova Scotia 30 150,000 0
Northwest Territories <20 <100,000 0
Nunavut <20 <100,000 0
Ontario 150 1,000,000 0
Prince Edwards Island <20 <100,000 0
Quebec 40 100,000 0
Saskatchewan <20 <100,000 0
Yukon <20 <100,000 0
Total 475 1,750,000 0

For privacy reasons, data are not provided for provinces and territories with fewer than 20 registered buildings and/or 100,000 m2 of gross floor area. Numbers may not sum to the total indicated due to rounding. Variations from previous snapshots are possible because of changes in user entry or improved filtering, and data cleaning. However, it's important to note that these variations do not apply to certified buildings accessible through the provided link.

Energy and area distribution

Figure 2. Source EUI distribution

Legend

Portfolio Manager distribution;
10th Percentile = 1.5 GJ/m2;
50th Percentile (Median) = 3.4 GJ/m2;
90th Percentile = 5.4 GJ/m2

Bar graph - Energy intensity distribution

This diagram shows the source EUI distribution for this building type. The median source EUI is 3.4 GJ/m2

Text version - source EUI distribution
Source EUI distribution
Building source EUI (GJ/m2) Number of buildings
0 2
0.2 2
0.4 3
0.6 2
0.8 6
1 5
1.2 6
1.4 7
1.6 19
1.8 18
2 40
2.2 25
2.4 20
2.6 15
2.8 8
3 10
3.2 15
3.4 20
3.6 14
3.8 15
4 20
4.2 18
4.4 18
4.6 14
4.8 20
5 20
5.2 20
5.4 20
5.6 10
5.8 9
6 5
6.2 6
6.4 3
6.6 3
6.8 2
7 2
7.2 2
7.4 1
7.6 0
7.8 0
8 0
8.2 2
8.4 0
8.6 0
8.8 0
9 0
9.2 0
9.4 0
9.6 0
9.8 1
10 0

Figure 3. Distribution of floor area and buildings

Bar chart - Distribution of floor area and buildings

This diagram shows that over half of supermarkets have a gross floor area between 1,000 and 5,000 m2. The average gross floor area is 4,100 m2, and the median is 2,600 m2.

Text version - distribution of floor area and buildings
Distribution of floor area
Floor area Percentage of population
less than 500 m2 <1%
500 to 1,000 m2 1%
1,000 to 5,000 m2 43%
5,000 to 10,000 m2 14%
10,000 to 20,000 m2 31%
20,000 to 50,000 m2 8%
Over 50,000 m2 <1%
Distribution of building
Buildings Percentage of population
less than 500 m2 4%
500 to 1,000 m2 9%
1,000 to 5,000 m2 65%
5,000 to 10,000 m2 8%
10,000 to 20,000 m2 10%
20,000 to 50,000 m2 1%
Over 50,000 m2 <1%

Building characteristics and score distribution

Table 2. Characteristics of food retail – range of values

Building characteristics and score distribution
Building characteristics 10th percentile Median 90th percentile
Gross floor area (m2) 700 2,600 10,800
Heating degree days 2,820 4,322 5,775
Cooling degree days 38 153 344
Cash registers per 100 m2 0.16 0.41 0.46
Workers per 100 m2 0.74 1.08 1.08
Refrigerated cases per 100 m2 0.85 0.85 3.60
Computers per 100 m2 0.16 0.55 0.55

The buildings in this table represent less than 1% of the floor area and 1% of buildings registered in Portfolio Manager in Canada.

Figure 4. ENERGY STAR score range

Bar graph - ENERGY STAR score range

This diagram shows the range (10th to 90th percentile) of ENERGY STAR scores given per source EUI range.

Text version - ENERGY STAR score range
ENERGY STAR score range
Energy use intensity (GJ/m2) Bottom of score range (P10) Height of score range (distance to P90)
0 100 0
0.2 100 0
0.4 100 0
0.6 100 0
0.8 100 0
1 100 0
1.2 98 2
1.4 98 2
1.6 95 5
1.8 93 8
2 86 13
2.2 84 15
2.4 83 15
2.6 66 30
2.8 52 45
3 62 31
3.2 68 22
3.4 43 46
3.6 58 23
3.8 49 30
4 57 25
4.2 47 25
4.4 49 26
4.6 43 32
4.8 39 28
5 34 28
5.2 32 31
5.4 21 38
5.6 8 46
5.8 18 31
6 13 36
6.2 7 53
6.4 12 51
6.6 3 53
6.8 28 4
7 20 31
7.2 71 0
7.4 4 0
7.6 0 0
7.8 0 0
8 0 0
8.2 1 4
8.4 0 0
8.6 0 0
8.8 0 0
9 0 0
9.2 0 0
9.4 0 0
9.6 0 0
9.8 1 0
10 0 0
Definitions and data information
ENERGY USE INTENSITY (EUI)
EUI is the energy use per square metre at a property. EUI enables you to compare different size buildings.
SITE ENERGY VERSUS SOURCE ENERGY
There are two ways of measuring energy: at the site and at the source.
Site
SITE ENERGY is the simplest way to measure energy because it accounts only for the energy your property itself uses, as measured by your energy meters. The usage that appears on your utility bills is a site energy measurement.
Source

SOURCE ENERGY not only measures the energy used by your property, but also accounts for energy losses incurred during the production, transmission and delivery of energy to your property, source energy is a more accurate measurement of the energy actually required to run your building.

ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager uses source energy. This is the most equitable unit of evaluation, which enables a complete assessment of building-level energy efficiency.

For more information, see the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Technical Reference: Source Energy.

Data quality

The data is self-reported and has been filtered to exclude outliers, buildings with less than a full year of consumption data, cases that are used for testing purposes, and an additional filter was applied. Variations from previous snapshots are possible because of changes in user entry, improved filtering, and data cleaning. Buildings registered in Portfolio Manager do not represent a randomly selected sample and are not the basis for the ENERGY STAR score.

For more information on ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, contact Natural Resources Canada at buildings-batiments@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca

The ENERGY STAR and PORTFOLIO MANAGER names and the ENERGY STAR symbol are trademarks registered in Canada by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and are administered and promoted by Natural Resources Canada.

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