(Credit: Johnson Controls)An energy efficiency indicator survey from Johnson Controls reveals that 62% of organizations surveyed expect to increase investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, or smart building technology in 2022, indicating a return to pre-pandemic levels. Almost two-thirds of survey respondents say they struggle to scale sustainability initiatives across buildings, geographies, or business units.
The survey revealed that planned investment in energy generation or storage has grown significantly over five years, likely in response to the global focus on decarbonization, and as part of that effort, electrification. More than a third of respondents plan to replace fossil fuel heating equipment with heat pump technology in the next year, which is 7% more than what was implemented in the year prior. More than half of respondents implemented electric energy storage in the past year.
The survey also found that the US and Europe still lead the way in every metric of green building planning. The US had the most respondents who had already achieved green building certification and expect to have a net zero energy or carbon building in the next ten years. Europe had the most respondents planning to attain green building certifications and the most respondents who have established public energy/carbon reduction goals, with UK leading with 46% established goals.
The survey revealed that actionable policies are also important for progressing energy efficiency goals. Eighty-five percent and 72% of respondents, respectively, reported that performance benchmarking/certifications and performance standards for energy codes are critical to improving energy efficiency efforts. Long term, more than two thirds of organizations believe data analytics and cybersecurity will have an extremely or very significant impact on the implementation of smart buildings over the next five years.
Additional signs of decarbonization in the report include 35% of respondents saying they plan to install heat pump technology in the next 12 months, 42% that plan to install thermal energy storage in the next 12 months, and 52% that implemented electric energy storage in the past 12 months.
The top eight energy efficiency measures for the past 12 months are integration of fire/life safety with other building technology systems, energy-focused behavioral or educational programs, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning improvements, fire/life safety system improvements, integration of security systems with other building technology systems, building controls improvements, building systems integration, and water efficiency improvements.
Although Johnson Controls found that the US leads the way in every metric of green building planning, another report from Next Energy Technologies shows that US companies are encountering significant, long-term consequences — including lost sales — for not proactively addressing the climate crisis.
These reports continue to further the idea that companies are working to better their ESG reporting, a find that Navex recently presented when the company surveyed 1,250 managers and executives and found 46% of them will increase their organization’s focus on ESG this year.
