Forbes report: Commercial buildings more energy-efficient

By the year 2023, global investment in making commercial buildings more energy-efficient will reach almost $960 billion, Forbes reports.

According to recent Navigant Research, building owners and managers will invest more money in installing energy-efficient heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems – at an annual growth rate of around 7%. This trend is likely to see more companies installing air curtains, which are known to be an environmentally friendly way of regulating internal temperatures, keeping pests and unwanted pollutants outside of a building, and reducing energy waste. While this growth will be driven in part by government legislation, analysts note that a number of retrofit initiatives are being carried out voluntarily, as businesses try to reduce costs and improve their own corporate sustainability.

The report found that as well as reduced power consumption, making buildings more energy efficient can in fact significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – even more than experts originally thought. As well as this, William Eisenstein, who led the research team and is also executive director of CERC at the University of California at Berkeley, stated: "A notable finding from this work is that by far the largest source of building-related GHG emissions was from the transportation sector. This suggests that programs like telecommuting and commuter benefit programs, when combined with smart location siting decisions driven by SB 375, can bring substantial GHG reductions."

The study looked at the metrics from around 100 buildings in California, US, that are currently under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Experts predict that the US state will be leading the way for how building owners can make more efforts to 'go green.'