Smart Buildings Save Energy and Improve Occupant Comfort
Smart technologies can reduce a building’s energy use by nearly a fifth and yield additional benefits, such as increased worker productivity, according to our new report, Smart Buildings: a Deeper Dive into Market Segments. This report documents how many types of buildings—not just the biggest and ritziest—can benefit from the latest interconnected technologies, from simple occupancy sensors to complex energy management and information systems. It builds on our report from early 2017, Smart Buildings: Using Smart Technology to Save Energy in Existing Buildings.
So far, large showcase buildings with robust budgets have been the first to embrace smart technologies. Yet to achieve substantial energy savings in the commercial building sector others will need to adopt them as well. We calculate that smart technologies will save an estimated 8-18% of total energy consumption in subsectors that include Class B offices, small chain and independent retail stores, middle-tier franchise hotels, and regional nonteaching hospitals. Of course, actual savings will depend on a variety of factors; we provide estimates of average expected savings based on publicly available information and EIA’s Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey data.
The four subsectors we studied—office, retail, hotels, and hospitals—already demonstrate notable differences in their use of smart technologies. For example, almost three-quarters of the health care sector use a building automation system, while less than 40% of hotels contain them. We find that some subsectors may save more energy than others, but given the wide variety of emerging technologies, all can benefit. Below is a snapshot of each subsector, including its average estimated energy savings from adopting smart technologies…
To download the report, visit: http://aceee.org/research-report/a1703
To continue reading the blog post, visit: http://aceee.org/blog/2017/12/smart-buildings-save-energy-and
About ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors. For information about ACEEE and its programs, publications, and conferences, visit aceee.org
