LV-11-018 -- Comparison of Vertical Display Cases:Energy and Productivity Impacts of Glass Doors Versus Open Vertical Display Cases

The objective of this project was to compare a typical open refrigerated display case line-up to a typical glass-doored refrigerated display case line-up with the aim of quantifying the difference in overall energy consumption and the difference in food product sales for each case type. For this research project, two supermarkets were identified as test sites: one supermarket received a new, open refrigerated display case line-up and the other supermarket received a new, doored refrigerated display case line-up. Per unit length of case line-up, the open display case line-up consumed approximately 1.3 times more energy than the doored display case line-up. Comparison of product sales between the open and doored display case lineups showed that "doored versus open" had no effect on product sales. Finally, the door opening duration data collected in this study from the doored display case line-up validate the door opening procedure used in the method of test described in ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 72-2005 (ASHRAE 2005).