NRM Success Story
Portside Liquors
Bryans Road, MD
Portside Liquors has slashed their electric bill by nearly $3,000 per year. By year 10 of having NRM's solution, they will have saved almost $30,000 in profits that otherwise would've been spent on energy costs.
One of the things NRM has spent considerable effort over the years perfecting is the user-friendliness of our smart controls and operational features. The most common businesses to benefit from NRM’s solution are liquor stores, convenience stores, and restaurants; businesses run by everyday people. The refrigeration upgrades wouldn’t be nearly as valuable to our customers if the learning curve to use them required an advanced degree in mechanical engineering.
Their ease of use—along with their provable results, of course—is why so many utility providers like SMECO in southern Maryland include them in their small business energy-efficiency programs.
Jay Chahaun, GM of Portside Liquors in Bryans Road, MD, is one such person who sought to benefit from receiving retrofit improvements, but needed something both he and his stuff could actually use.
It’s why our controller comes with a labeled keypad and LCD screen that displays live temperature and any alerts. It also contains info such as runtimes, scheduling, a one-button defrost, and a Timed System Shutdown feature that turns off the system safely for 20 minutes while people are working in the walk-in cooler and then automatically starts back up.
Of course, the energy-efficiency improvements are the solutions’ bread and butter. At its core, NRM’s solution is designed to adapt your refrigeration to cool the walk-in cooler or freezer’s space only when it’s necessary to maintain desired temperatures, instead of running 24/7/365.
Along with the controls, Portside Liquors had the motors in their cooler fans updated to newer models, their novelty soda coolers set on a scheduler, electric defrost, and anti-sweat door heater controls to manage their runtimes, as well.
All of these together lowered Portside Liquor’s annual kWh usage by over 20,000 kWh! This works out to roughly $2,800 in actual dollar savings on their annual bill compared to before. They’ve had the controls since 2018, meaning they’ve spent over $10,000 LESS in electric costs than if they did nothing.
To top it off, SMECO covered 80% of the project cost so Portside Liquors went ahead with it.
Industry
Liquor Store
Location
Bryans Road, MD
Implemented Measures
- CoolTrol refrigeration controls
- EC Motor Upgrades
- Anti-Sweat Door Heater controls
- On-Demand Electric Defrost
- Novelty Cooler Setbacks
Utility Incentive
80% of Project Cost
Simple Payback
6 Months
Annual Energy Savings
22,000 kWh
Annual Dollar Savings
$2,850
“Thanks to NRM and their CoolTrol technology and constant temperature controls, I am known to have the coldest beer in town. I love the Shut Down Button! It is great for deliveries, because for 20 minutes the fans do not blow on my employees and delivery drivers, and then the fans come back on automatically after 20 minutes. I love that everything is digital and easy to read. My SMECO Electric Bill is always low and more cost effective!”
— Jay, General Manager