Retrofitting LED Lights Can Pay Off In Your C-store

As a convenience store owner, if there was a change you could make to increase merchandise sales, lower your electric bill, reduce maintenance costs, and be environmentally responsible would you make the change? The opportunity to do just that is here with the advent of LED Retrofit Kits. These kits replace the existent fluorescent lighting on your glass door merchandising walk-in cooler and freezer with 4’, 5’ or 6’ long LED light strips.

LED lighting provides a 68 to 85% energy savings over the fluorescent lights typically used in coolers and freezers. LED’s use only 15 watts for a 5’ model and 18 watts for 6’. But if energy savings was the only advantage, adoption of LED’s wouldn’t be near where it is today. The real difference is the attractive quality of the light it gives off. LED’s give your products a beckoning glow and more uniform illumination than fluorescent.  You can choose between lights that give off a neutral or slight red or blue hue. Conventional wisdom suggests that the more appealing the product presentation, the more likely a customer is to take notice and purchase it. Read the rest of this entry »

Lighting Efficiency of Incandescent & CFL vs LED

LED life-cycle assessment

Light Emitting Diodes are among the most energy-efficient light sources available on the market. LED lamps are already today more than five times more efficient than incandescent lamps and future technical achievements offer additional potential for the coming years.

At present, artificial lighting accounts for around 19% of global electricity consumption – that corresponds to 2.4% of worldwide primary energy consumption. Read the rest of this entry »

Think Custom. Think Cooler. NACS 2009

U.S. Cooler manufactures walk-ins with the customer in mind. We understand it is important to produce an affordable, quality, durable, and efficient product. U.S. Cooler specializes in custom sized walk-in coolers and freezers. All of our walk-ins are produced using the highest quality products and the most efficient insulation. Our custom walk-ins are competitively priced and have the shortest lead time in the industry.  U.S. Cooler has the technology and the capability to manufacture walk-ins to fit any size or configuration you are looking for. When you need custom, think U.S. Cooler. Come visit our booth, # 1863, at NACS in Las Vegas from October 21-23, 2009.

Walk-in Saves Lives

On Wednesday, August 19th, a tornado ripped through the village of Williamsville, IL leaving parts of the town a disaster with many home’s lost. One particular building that was in the direct path of the storm was a Casey’s General Store. When the storm rolled in, there were 9 employees and customers in the store. The entire front wall of the building was blown out leaving no shelter for the group in the store. Immediately they took cover in the walk-in cooler where they safely remained until the storm ended. After the storm, the only structure of the building still intact and left unharmed was the walk-in combination unit. Check with your local emergency center for the emergency plan that best fits your location.

Taken right after the tornado hit Casey's General Store in Williamsville, IL.

After the store clean-up.

Additional pictures of the damage. Read the rest of this entry »

Crossfire LED Lighting System for Commercial Refrigeration Applications

SCHOTT Gemtron now offers the new CrossFire™ LED lighting system designed specifically for the commercial refrigeration industry.  This industry leading light output system is designed to handle the harsh cold environments for both the normal and low temp applications.  The name says it all, CrossFire™.  This patent pending design offers light pointed directly where it needs to be, at the merchandise to aid in increased product sales.

CrossFire delivers a less than two year payback on your LED investment.  Reducing compressor run time, reducing wattage, eliminating maintenance cost, while providing the most light output of any other LED on the market.

This energy efficient CrossFire™ design can save you up to 85% of your current energy cost and also remove the amount of heat that is added to your cold environment, therefore reducing compressor run times.  The SCHOTT Gemtron CrossFire™ design has an exclusive power supply integrated into the light bar.  When you add up all the benefits of the CrossFire™ LED lighting systems you will enjoy a fast payback on your lighting investment.

For more information, please view this SCHOTT Gemtron pdf:  http://gemtrondoors.com/PDF_Files/SCHOTT%20Gemtron%20CrossFire%2009-08.pdf

Does your company manufacture a commercial refrigeration product or accessory you’d like us to feature? If so, email Kristin[at]uscooler.com with details on your product, quality images, and links to more information.

Meeting 2009 EISA Walk-in Cooler & Freezer Standards

The federal government’s EISA (Energy Independence & Security Act) standards went into effect Jan. 1st, 2009. This act was intended to improve energy efficiency within the refrigeration industry as well as many other industries. AHRI reports there have been some concerns since there are no enforcement mechanism or standard testing methods built into the act; non-compliant walk-in manufacturers will stand to benefit. These manufacturers will be able to beat compliant competitors on price (due to the lower input costs of their non-regulation walk-ins). Be sure that when buying a walk-in, you check to make sure they are EISA compliant.

The AHRI (Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute) is trying to raise awareness about what this act mandates among distributors, installers, and consumers. They have created a checklist of the standards walk-in coolers & freezers are required to meet that can be found at ACHR The News. Use this checklist to ensure the walk-in unit you are about to purchase meets the EISA standards. Read the rest of this entry »

Convenience Store Efficiency

The following article, Cooler Control, from the Convenience Store Decisions magazine, discusses ways to increase your walk-in cooler’s efficiency and decrease operating costs.

Convenience store chains can slash operating costs by as much as 10% with sound maintenance and general improvements to its refrigeration systems.

Operators looking for greater energy efficiency should cast an eye on their coolers, where centralized controls, lighting adjustments, basic ongoing maintenance and employee training can save them money.

“Coolers are typically an opportunity for improvements in maintenance and operational practices,” said Jerry Lawson, national manager for Energy Star Small Business and Congregations Network, a division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington. “With all the different types of equipment in the c-store, coolers are a key piece of the energy equation, and they are typically the most expensive to run. With the right improvements, there is an energy efficiency dollar saving opportunity.”

Where to begin? Start with the obvious.
“Keeping them clean is the biggest thing,” Lawson said. “Coolers have to breathe. Keeping those coils clean allows them to breathe; they take the air in and expel air out.”

When taking care of monthly cooler cleaning, Lawson liked to pull off the back panel and take a cloth or other type of non-steel brush to it and clean it off, then vacuum or sweep the junk up off the floor. “That’s the biggest thing to keep them running efficiently.”

Matt Lauck, director of marketing for Retail Solutions in Kennesaw, Ga., a subsidiary of Emerson Electric, said that central facility management systems can be a major tool for achieving energy efficiency in coolers. Such systems give the operator the ability to optimize energy reduction by, among other things, tracking temperatures to make sure they stay within operational norms, which obviously also has implications for food safety. “Think of it as a programmable thermostat,” he said.

Read the full article from Convenience Store Decisions

Beer Caves – The Perfect Beverage Refrigerator

Regardless if you are remodeling or building new stores, why not increase the use of your space and install a beer cave for your alcoholic beverages? Beer caves have grown to be very popular in the convenience store industry offering a bright inviting room for customers to browse their selection. Beer caves can come in any shape or size. They are all custom designed to fit your plans. Consider the advantages the beer cave can provide for you and your customers.

Bright lights, glass doors and windows can make an old drab corner turn into an inviting alcoholic beverage oasis. It is proven that bright lights and colorful graphics grab people’s attention attracting more customers to the product. Customers like to see all their choices right in front of them. The beer cave consolidates all beer and alcoholic beverages in one area so it is easy for people to find what they are looking for, grab and go.

Since the majority of beer sold in convenience stores is cold, why not put your beer stock in the cave (eliminating time spent on restocking)? Instead of shoving cases of beer on the shelves that only fit a few cases, have your inventory stocked together so you will always know when you are running low.

Wouldn’t you like to be known as having the “coldest beer in town”? Customers enjoy being able to walk-in, feel the cold air and know their beer will be cold and refreshing.

U.S. Cooler can provide for all of your walk-in needs in your convenience store. A beer cave can give you the opportunity to increase sales and produce a creative, inviting destination for your customers. To get a quote on a beer cave call U.S. Cooler at 800-521-2665.