Mini-Marts and Gas Stations, defined here as small retail stores that are open long hours and sell groceries, snacks, and gasoline, are energy intensive buildings. As their business model has shifted from automotive services to retail sales of food and drink to travelers, their lighting and refrigeration loads have grown rapidly.

Those two systems account for about two-thirds of the energy use:  The average annual electric use is approximately 364,000 kWh or 94 kWh/ft2 . Most gas stations / min-marts range in size from 700 ft2 to 10,500 square feet, and as such major differences in annual energy use will be seen.  Contributing to those energy costs are elements such as hours of operation (with higher lighting loads for 24 hour stores), the number of plug loads in the store, and whether there was a car wash on site (generally chain stores with car washes have the highest energy use while independent stores have the lowest).

♦  The average gas station / mini-mart can see a total energy savings of 19%, which equates to about $5,000 per year for each store in reduced energy expenses.

♦  These have evolved from the “gas stations” of the past to the modern stores that offer self-service gasoline, restrooms and refreshments (which contributes the most to the store’s profits, as owner/operators have discovered what customers will purchase on their stops in addition to the gasoline).  In some cases, customers stop only for the “convenience” of purchasing an item without a trip to a full-sized grocery store.

Energy efficiency doesn’t make sales, but it does make sales more profitable. If a store were to see an average energy savings of $5,000 per year, to make an equivalent profit from sales with an assumed profit margin of 10%, the store would need to increase sales by $50,000 per year.