Retail sector is more wasteful than any other public buildings.

Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, recently initiated a groundbreaking collaboration with industry bodies and leading international research laboratories to analyze the potential for energy efficiency in China's retail sector.

The retail sector is the biggest energy consumer of all large public buildings. The collaboration aims to conduct research, make recommendations and eventually draft a tentative policy for government decision-makers.

"This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a pioneering project that will change the face of energy efficiency for buildings in China. Not only is retail a sector with an enormous energy-savings potential, but it is also an area that has not been studied deeply in the past. We at Schneider Electric are proud to collaborate with such prestigious partners in this promising project," said Noel Girard, Schneider Electric China's vice-president for strategy.

The joint project brings together Schneider Electric and the research centers of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States, the Energy Research Institute of China's National Development and Reform Commission and Tsinghua Building Energy Research Center, as well as industry players such as Swire Properties, Bureau Veritas and Carrefour.

These parties are leaders in their fields, bringing a global perspective to energy efficiency and technology tin China's shops.

Schneider Electric is instigating and funding the project, working in conjunction with research bodies that will execute the project, and retail bodies that will provide raw data.

The three-year project will develop benchmarking and financial tools to assess the benefits of retrofit projects, as well as research new forms of financing to boost investment in this sector.

The research will be used to gain a full picture of retail bulidings' energy consumption, assess current technologies and then provide recommendations.

"The retail sector is a big segment for energy efficiency. There is huge potential for China to save electricity consumption if everybody in the sector can get involved," said Girard.

"We at Schneider Electric always believe that through an optimized power application, supervision and control of energy consumption, a 30 percent energy saving can be implemented."

Schneider Electric has helped French retail chain Carrefour boast China's first energy-efficient supermarket following a government appeal for energy savings in the retail sector.

To meet its energy intensity target, the Chinese government, in its 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), said it wanted to cut energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent from 2005 levels. The Ministry of Commerce in 2007 called for an energy saving initiative for supermarkets, shopping malls and other retail stores with an area of more than 10,000 square meters.

"The chain store business is a low profit sector. However, if a supermarket can invest 1 yuan in energy saving equipment, its electricity cost will be cut by 100 yuan," said Girard.

In late 2007, Carrefour and Schneider Electric started to cooperate on the rebuilding and redesigning of Carrefour supermarkets to save energy.

The two parties aimed to cut the energy consumption of Carrefour's old stores by 15 percent and newly-opened stores by 20 percent.

Carrefour's supermarket in the Wangjing district of Beijing, the retail conglomerate's 109th store in China, was the first project for Schneider Electric in the initiative.

Schneider Electric spent a year establishing an expert group to do the onsite audit, tailoring a power solution, and implementing and testing it.

The solution included building power control, light control, energy inspection mechanisms, electricity systems, and changing some power distribution equipment.

"Under our power solution, the lights and air conditioner in the office area of the supermarket can be turned on and off using sound. If staff leave the office to go to the store, after 10 seconds, the light and air conditioner will turn off automatically," said Girard.

The company also designed a long-distance meter reading system for Carrefour. The chain's control center in Shanghai can easily read the power consumption data of all its stores across China every day and react accordingly.

Since the first project, Schneider Electric has helped Carrefour to rebuild the power control systems in more than 50 supermarkets.

According to Carrefour, it spent 2 million yuan on rebuilding the power system of its Wangjing store. Now the store can save 15 to 20 percent of its previous consumption, enabling it to recoup the cost within three years.