Smart Building Blog

According to the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), commercial buildings consume 70% of US electricity. The US Department of Energy has also found that commercial buildings waste 30% of the energy they consume. This presents a huge opportunity for Facility Managers to take advantage of smart building efficiency measures to save energy. Seeing as lighting and HVAC accounts for roughly 40-60% of a commercial building's utility costs, it makes sense as a starting point for energy savings.

Our friends at the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) outdid themselves this year at the 2018 Minnesota Energy Expo, hosted at the Radisson Blu in Bloomington, Minnesota. Programming spanned three rooms with 13 presentations, including the keynote speaker, ASHRAE National President, Sheila Hayter, plus energy project deployment stories, projections about the future of energy and building automation.

So find a cozy seat and enjoy some of our key takeaways from the 2018 ASHRAE Minnesota Energy Expo!

We all know it, green workspaces are in. Market demand for green buildings continues to double every three years, and the demand is only going up. In 2019, the green building market is expecting to climb from $43 billion to $69 billion in the US alone.

So why is that?

Competition in commercial real estate is high and projected to remain high. New-builds and renovations are attractive to tenants seeking more open floorplans, more daylight, more amenities and better energy efficiency. In fact, when tenants want to lower their energy costs, gain insight into their own energy consumption and improve indoor air quality in their space, they usually look to new-builds and renovated spaces soon after discovering that they have little control over such things in their current space.

However, retrofitting existing buildings with energy efficiency and other green upgrades is often the better choice, and it can help property managers attract tenants and fill a vacancy quicker.

Vacant properties present an opportunity for smart enhancements that could fill the space faster and offer long-term value. Many landlords wait to make tenant improvements (TI) until a tenant signs a lease for a vacant space. But, commercial real estate is a competitive landscape, and rents have risen significantly in the past few years. Prospective tenants are seeking the most attractive environment possible for employee comfort and productivity, in addition to operational cost management. A quick-install wireless building automation system (BAS) offers a smart opportunity to differentiate property with value for owner and tenant alike.