A building doesn’t have to be new to be efficient. Today’s leading building owners are retrofitting buildings, converting existing buildings into models of sustainability. Building energy retrofits are investments in efficient technology during building renovation. While most building owners still pursue single technology improvements, market leaders bundle together energy saving technologies to get deeper savings in a more comprehensive approach. Energy performance contracting is one business model that enables building owners to implement whole building retrofits and significantly lower energy consumption and operating costs. Essentially, the upgrades are paid for through energy savings over time. Photo credit: Jack Amick/Flickr.
The sixth annual Energy Efficiency Indicator survey reached 944 building decision-makers in Europe. The 2012 European results point to significant and growing interest around energy efficiency in buildings. Interest in energy efficiency among building executives in Europe jumped by 15%. Seventy-nine percent said energy management was very or extremely important to their organizations, compared to...
Interest in energy efficiency jumped 20% from 2011-2012. Sixty-six percent of U.S. and Canadian executives reported in 2011 that energy management was very or extremely important to their organizations, and in 2012 that number jumped to 86%. Seventy percent said they were paying more attention to energy in 2012 than in 2011.
Respondents in the 2012 global EEI survey in general showed increasing interest in managing energy, investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and pursuing green buildings. The 2012 EEI survey was sponsored by the Institute for Building Efficiency in partnership with the International Facility Management Association, the Urban Land Institute, and 16 in-country strategic partners. The...
The UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative aims to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030.i Efficient buildings are vital to achieving sustainable development because they align economic, social, and environmental objectives, creating triple bottom line benefits. However, the scale and pace of current actions around the world are insufficient to transform buildings...
The 2011 Canada results provide insights into the priorities, practices and investments being made by decision-makers today, and offer a glimpse of tomorrow’s technologies. The Canada survey had 211 respondents, a more than 300% increase over 2010.
The 2011 South Africa partner results provide insights into the priorities, practices and investments being made by decision-makers in that country today, and offer a glimpse into their expectations for technologies of tomorrow. The survey in South Africa had 77 respondents and was conducted through four partner organizations that helped distribute the survey:
The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has updated the RetroFit Depot website with new resources, including three new guides. The RetroFit Depot is a resource to help building owners, managers, occupants and retrofit practitioners gain a detailed understanding of the value and process of undertaking deep energy retrofits. The three new resources being launched on the site are: