A report by Navigant Research found that continuity in operations and production is prioritized over commercial buildings' energy efficiency, despite the fact that commercial buildings are among the most energy intensive. That may be shifting a bit: Navigant found a growing awareness of the importance of efficiency among people who run facilities. This is driving an expansion of the industrial energy management systems (IEMS) sector, which will grow from $13.5 billion to $35.6 billion between this year and 2024.
The firm said that the recovery from the economic downturn means that industrial facilities are doing more with less. IEMS can do a lot of things that fit well with that paradigm. It provides tools for managing costs, hedges risks related to price volatility and policy impacts and meets social responsibility and sustainability goals, the report says.
Writing at Energy Manager Today earlier this year, former SHIFT Energy CEO Brock Sansom said that he is confident that there is enough knowledge and knowhow available today to achieve the goal of net-zero buildings. His piece outlines the best conceptual approach to achieving this goal from a high level perspective.
