BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
SUSTAINABILITY
specialreport
for Canadian DC,
saving energy’s a breeze
In the chill winter of Saskatchewan,
Federated Co-operatives Ltd. shaved
nearly twenty grand off its DC heating
bill by installing industrial fans.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BIG ASS FANS
THE AVERAGE DAILY HIGH TEMperature in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,
in December is 14 degrees F. It dips to
a frigid 9 degrees F in January before
climbing back to 16 degrees in
February.
It’s in that environment that
Federated Co-operatives Ltd. operates
a 300,178-square-foot grocery distribution center to serve retail outlets
throughout the region. Federated provides distribution and other services
to some 250 retail cooperatives across
Western Canada.
During the winter, Federated’s goal is to keep the temperature in the DC at about 20
degrees C (68 degrees F). That’s proved high enough to keep everyone satisfied. “We had
no comfort complaints,” says Trevor Carlson, the cooperative’s manager of environmental
and technical services. Trouble was, maintaining that temperature required a lot of energy—as much as 250,000 cubic feet of natural gas each season.
For Federated’s managers, that was cause for concern. The cooperative is committed to
environmental sustainability, Carlson says. And the consumption of large amounts of fossil fuels seemed out of line with those goals. After reviewing the fuel consumption figures,
everyone agreed it was high time the cooperative started looking for ways to reduce the
operation’s reliance on carbon-based fuels.
A lot of hot air
Carlson suspected a lot of heat was being wasted because warmed air was rising to the ceiling. (While ceiling heights vary within the Saskatoon DC, they’re about 28 feet high in
most parts of the building.) That led him to explore the possibility of installing industrial fans to mix the air in the space—a process known as destratification.
