Cut retail store energy use with live data and automation

Submitted through the COP31 Sustainable Transformation Awards · SKD Türkiye (WBCSD Global Network Partner)

The company runs an international apparel retail chain of more than 600 stores in 23 countries with more than 5,700 employees, and applies this initiative across its 184 stores in Türkiye.

Retail energy consumption is concentrated in lighting and climate control, and most of it is spent in leased units, many of them inside shopping centres where the retailer controls neither the building envelope nor the shared infrastructure.

The conventional pattern is reactive. Consumption is noticed after a high bill arrives or after equipment fails, by which point the energy has already been used, and equipment left running outside trading hours is invisible until someone happens to be in the store.

The company's position was that equipment replacement alone would not hold a saving. Lamps and units can be upgraded once, but consumption drifts back without continuous measurement, so the initiative was designed around data and control rather than around hardware.

Akıllı Yeşil Mağaza, meaning Smart Green Store, was introduced from 2022 to prevent unnecessary consumption, improve store energy performance continuously, protect indoor comfort and create a repeatable management model for low-carbon retail operations. Consumption data for the period from 2019 to 2025 forms the basis of the impact assessment.

Location of the initiative: Türkiye; 184 stores within an international network of more than 600 stores in 23 countries

The model combines four elements in one system: real-time monitoring, central automation, comparative analysis between stores, and field training for store teams. Treating them as a single system is what separates the approach from a sequence of equipment projects.

Every one of the 184 stores in scope has electricity consumption and indoor temperature monitored continuously. The monitoring layer detects devices left running outside trading hours and makes deviations visible while they are still happening rather than at the end of a billing period.

In 73 of those stores, air conditioning and lighting are operated through central automation, so control does not depend on a member of staff remembering to switch equipment off at a specific time.

Comparative analysis turns the monitoring data into decisions. Energy intensity is compared between stores, high-consumption locations are identified against that benchmark, and action plans are prepared for them individually rather than issuing a single instruction to the whole estate.

Continuous temperature monitoring prevents overheating and overcooling while thermal comfort is maintained, which is the constraint that keeps the savings acceptable to store teams and customers.

Physical measures reduce the load before it reaches the equipment. LED lighting conversion has been completed in all stores, and three envelope measures address heat loss: thermal insulation, air curtain revisions, and automatic opening and closing doors.

On-site energy efficiency analysis was carried out in all 184 stores and store teams were trained, so that the people operating the equipment every day understand what the data is showing and what their own behaviour changes.

Figure 1: The store energy system: the monitoring, analysis and automation layers

Figure 2: The store portfolio map with live consumption and indoor temperature

Figure 3: Central air conditioning control on a store floor plan

Figure 4: A daily active power trend by circuit

Figure 5: Energy efficiency performance: a 9 per cent average improvement in 2024–2025 and 1,070,000 kWh saved in 2025 against a 1,350,000 kWh annual target, with store energy intensity in 2024 compared with 2025

Sustainability Impact

Climate

The initiative targets Scope 2 emissions, which are the emissions associated with purchased electricity. Every kilowatt-hour that is not consumed in a store is a kilowatt-hour that does not have to be bought from the grid, so the reduction is direct rather than offset.

The result is measured in energy and converted into carbon. Across the stores where the application is active, energy performance improved by an average of 9 per cent over the 2024 to 2025 period, and 1,070,000 kWh of electricity was saved in 2025, equivalent to 501.83 tCO²e.

The carbon figures are calculated from the metered kWh savings using the distribution-level grid electricity consumption emission factor published by the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (0.469 tCO²e/MWh).

Extending the application to the full store scope planned for 2026 is targeted to raise the annual saving to 1,350,000 kWh, equivalent to 633.15 tCO²e. That figure is a target, not a delivered result.

Social

Thermal comfort is treated as a constraint on the savings rather than as an acceptable trade-off. Continuous temperature monitoring is used to prevent overheating and overcooling, so store staff and customers are not asked to absorb the efficiency gain in discomfort.

Capability was built alongside the technology. On-site analysis was carried out in all 184 stores and store teams were trained, which turns energy efficiency from a central instruction into something the people on the shop floor can act on.

Store teams also supply the feedback that the data cannot: working hours, how equipment is actually used, indoor temperature and perceived comfort. Locations showing high consumption or a temperature deviation are assessed jointly by central management, the store, the shopping centre management and the technical teams, and converted into an action plan.

Because shopping centre managements are involved in shared infrastructure, technical conditions and permissions, the improvements reach parts of the building that a tenant could not otherwise change.

Business Impact

Benefits

The saving is the primary benefit and it is measured directly: 1,070,000 kWh of electricity in 2025, with an average energy performance improvement of 9 per cent across 2024 and 2025 in the stores where the application is active. Electricity is a controllable operating cost in retail, so the saving falls straight to store profitability.

Detection replaces reaction. Devices left on outside trading hours are found by the system rather than by chance, which removes a category of waste that no equipment upgrade addresses.

Benchmarking creates a management tool. Comparing energy intensity between stores identifies where effort is worth spending and establishes a common performance standard, so central management, store teams and technical suppliers argue from the same data rather than from separate assumptions.

Maintenance planning improves as a side effect, because a store consuming more than its peers is often signalling an equipment fault before that fault becomes a failure.

The model is transferable within the group. It is standardised enough to be extended from the 184 stores in Türkiye towards the more than 600 stores the company operates in 23 countries, which is where the return on the central system design is realised.

Costs

The investment covers metering and monitoring infrastructure in 184 stores, central automation of air conditioning and lighting in 73 of them, completed LED conversion across all stores, thermal insulation, air curtain revisions and automatic doors, together with the on-site analysis and the training of store teams.

All of it is financed by the company from the annual business plan, and the recurring cost of monitoring platforms, maintenance activity and repeat training continues after the capital work is finished.

Leased locations set the practical limits. Store area, local climate, trading hours, shopping centre infrastructure and the technical restrictions of rented units all constrain what can be installed, which is why the model is applied through store-by-store analysis and phased investment rather than as a single estate-wide specification.

The dependency created is on data. Once operations rely on live consumption and temperature information, the value of the system falls if metering, connectivity or the automation layer is not maintained.

Costs are contained by applying the measures together or in stages according to what each store needs, by using common technical criteria so that equipment and scenarios are repeatable, and by reusing the same data for maintenance planning as well as for energy management.

For an average 500 m² store, the investment cost for a sub-metering energy consumption and indoor temperature monitoring system (covering HVAC, lighting and power outlets) is USD 2,000–2,500, with an operating cost of USD 15 a month and a payback period of 1.5–2 years.

Similarly, the installation cost for a full automation and energy monitoring system for a 500 m² store ranges from USD 3,000 to 5,000; the operating cost is USD 17 a month, and the payback period is 2–2.5 years.

These figures are averages and vary depending on factors such as the local climate, the store's HVAC system, thermal insulation, solar exposure, and whether the store is located in an open-air or enclosed shopping centre.

Impact Beyond Sustainability And Business

Co-benefits

The benchmarking layer changes behaviour beyond the equipment. When energy intensity is comparable between stores, efficiency becomes a shared decision criterion across the retail value chain rather than a head office concern.

Working with shopping centre managements on shared infrastructure, technical conditions and permissions builds a route for improvements that a single tenant cannot deliver alone, and that route stays open for later work.

Store teams gain a transferable skill. Reading consumption and temperature data and acting on it is capability that remains with the people, not only with the installed hardware.

Temperature control that prevents overheating and overcooling also improves the shopping environment, which is a commercial benefit as much as a comfort one.

Potential side-effects

Central automation moves control away from the store. If the automation scenarios are set without local input, staff lose the ability to respond to conditions the system cannot see, which is why store feedback on working hours, equipment use and comfort is built into the process.

Monitoring 184 stores continuously generates a data load that has to be reviewed. Deviations only produce savings if someone assesses them and converts them into an action plan, so the analytical effort is a permanent commitment rather than a project task.

Rented and shopping centre locations limit what can be changed physically, so results will be uneven across the estate and comparisons between stores must allow for those constraints rather than treating every gap as a performance failure.

Typical Business Profile

The model suits multi-site retail and service operators running many similar units, particularly chains occupying leased space in shopping centres where lighting and climate control dominate consumption and the operator does not own the building.

It applies to organisations mature enough to act on data continuously rather than to run a one-off retrofit, with a central operations function able to compare sites and a technical maintenance capability able to execute store-level work.

Geographic spread is an advantage rather than an obstacle, because the value of benchmarking rises with the number of comparable units.

Delivery engages senior management and the sustainability committee, operations, technical maintenance, store teams, energy management and automation suppliers, and shopping centre managements.

Approach

1. Meter before investing in equipment: Install real-time electricity consumption and indoor temperature monitoring across the store estate first, because without a measured baseline neither the size of the waste nor the effect of any later measure can be established.

2. Fix the assessment period and the data basis: Use several years of consumption history, here the period from 2019 to 2025, so that seasonal variation and trading hour changes are separated from genuine performance improvement.

3. Hunt the consumption that produces no sales: Use the monitoring data to identify equipment left running outside trading hours, since this is the cheapest saving available and requires no capital work.

4. Benchmark stores against each other rather than against a target: Compare energy intensity across the estate to identify high-consumption locations, and prepare action plans for those locations individually instead of issuing one instruction to every store.

5. Automate centrally where the location allows it: Bring air conditioning and lighting under central automation in the stores where the technical conditions permit, so that control no longer depends on a member of staff acting at the right moment.

6. Set temperature limits and hold them: Monitor indoor temperature continuously to prevent overheating and overcooling, and treat thermal comfort as a boundary condition, because a saving that makes a store uncomfortable will be reversed locally.

7. Complete the equipment and envelope work in parallel: Convert lighting to LED across the estate and apply thermal insulation, air curtain revisions and automatic opening and closing doors to reduce the load that the systems have to meet.

8. Analyse each store on site and train its team: Carry out an on-site energy efficiency analysis in every store in scope and train the staff, so that operating behaviour supports the technology instead of working against it.

9. Resolve deviations with the parties who control them: Assess high consumption or temperature deviation jointly with central management, the store, the shopping centre management and the technical teams, and convert the assessment into a dated action plan.

10. Report on a fixed set of five indicators and extend the model: Track annual electricity saving, the rate of energy performance improvement, store-level energy intensity, the number of stores under real-time monitoring and the number under central automation, and use that set as the standard when the model is carried to further stores.

Stakeholders Involved

• Project leads: The application is part of the company's annual business plan and is owned at board level, running with the approval and support of the Chair of the Board and under the leadership of the Chair of the Sustainability Committee. The Sustainability Committee meets regularly, develops the company's sustainability approach and reviews the progress and results of the application, which keeps budget and scope decisions at committee level rather than inside store operations.

• Company functions: Operations teams run project planning and field coordination. Technical maintenance teams implement the improvements to LED lighting, thermal insulation, air curtains, automatic doors, air conditioning and lighting systems. Store teams operate the systems daily and provide the feedback on trading hours, equipment use, indoor temperature and thermal comfort that the monitoring data alone cannot supply. Performance data is analysed regularly and shared with the relevant teams, which is how energy efficiency has become part of store operations rather than a central reporting exercise.

• Main providers: Energy management and automation suppliers install and adapt the systems, maintain the continuity of the data flow and develop the central control scenarios. Their work is technical rather than advisory, and the central control scenarios they build are what convert monitoring into automated action.

• Other: Shopping centre managements support delivery in leased locations by handling shared infrastructure, technical conditions and the permissions needed for each solution to be applied on site. The feedback mechanism runs on real-time energy and temperature data, store-level consumption comparisons, on-site energy efficiency analyses, maintenance records and staff comment. Locations with high consumption or temperature deviation are assessed together by central management, the store, the shopping centre management and the technical teams and converted into action plans, which is what brings technical expertise and field experience onto the same decision.

Key Parameters To Consider

The application was introduced from 2022 and reached 184 stores under real-time monitoring, of which 73 are managed through central automation, by 2026.

Impact data covers delivered results for 2024 and 2025 and targets for 2026, with consumption data from 2019 to 2025 as the assessment basis, so the 9 per cent improvement is measured against a multi-year record rather than a single comparison year.

The structure is modular. Real-time consumption and temperature monitoring, central automation, LED lighting, thermal insulation, air curtains and automatic doors can be applied together or in stages according to what a store needs, which is what allows different store sizes and lease conditions to be brought under the same energy target.

Common technical criteria, regular maintenance, team training and central data monitoring are the four conditions that keep stores in different circumstances comparable.

Implementation And Operations Tips

Measure first, then buy equipment. The savings that appear before any capital work, such as equipment running outside trading hours, are the ones that justify the monitoring investment in the first place.

Compare stores rather than chase an absolute target. Energy intensity benchmarking finds the locations where effort pays, and it does so without needing a theoretical model of what a store should consume.

Protect thermal comfort explicitly. A saving that makes a store too warm or too cold will be undone locally within days, and the monitoring data will show it as a system failure rather than as a comfort problem.

Bring the landlord in early. In shopping centre locations the shared infrastructure and the permissions sit with the centre management, and technical solutions designed without them do not get installed.

Report what is measured. Lead with the metered kWh saving and derive CO²e from it with a published grid emission factor, so that the carbon figure can always be traced back to the measurement.