Guess – Robert Bartolucci – 2017

Goals 

Guess, a global lifestyle and fashion brand, wanted to reduce energy use in its stores across the United States and Canada. The company’s total electricity consumption is 38 million kilowatt hours annually. EDF Climate Corps fellow Robert Bartolucci was brought in to perform a portfolio-wide LED retrofit investment analysis at the stores, many of which were still being lit by incandescent, halogen and fluorescent lamps.

Solutions

Bartolucci created a database of information for each store in scope, consisting of electricity use and cost, operational hours, lighting fixture schedules, location-based emissions, and utility-specific rebates. He then prioritized a list of the most viable retrofit projects. Each store is unique in its energy use and physical layout, adding another level of difficulty to the challenge.

Through consultation with Guess’ retail development team and on-site visits, Bartolucci created a comprehensive analysis workbook detailing the NPV and GHG savings for each planned retrofit. He identified 87 stores in scope as poor candidates for LED retrofits as a result of negative NPV’s.  Bartolucci also recommended halting the use of a certain standardly-used LED fixture, due to its long payback period and increase in total carbon dioxide emissions.

Potential Impact

The LED retrofits could save Guess 9.1 million kilowatt hours of annual electricity use, with the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4,189 metric tons annually. These findings equip Guess to make better investments towards a more sustainable future.