Reliability ranks first in data center management – but it shouldn’t obscure the need to be energy efficient. Smart organizations can reduce energy-related operating costs and environmental impact while still maintaining zero-downtime data facilities.
An article in the September issue of Building Design + Construction magazine highlights a new book by well-known green building author Jerry Yudelson and co-author Ulf Meyer. The book profiles 55 high-performance buildings from around the world, including the Johnson Controls Corporate Headquarters in Glendale, Wis. and St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. One of the hardest parts of the...
Interest in green buildings – and green building rating tools – is a worldwide trend. From Australia’s GreenStar green building rating tool to Japan’s CASBEE rating system, building developers, designers, owners and operators are developing and managing a new class of efficient and environmentally friendly buildings. Individuals and organizations are using the latest...
Today, facility managers often operate buildings by responding to alarms and occupant complaints. Tomorrow (and increasingly today) they will manage continuously, improving occupant comfort and energy management strategically through automated, connected technologies.
The Johnson Controls Institute for Building Efficiency has been conducting the Energy Efficiency Indicator Study for three years in China and Australia. In 2013 Singapore was added. The first summary report on Asia reveals similarities and contracts between the three countries, and between Asia and other parts of the world. Respondents in Asia report that they are viewing and analyzing...
Financial innovation offers one of the best hopes for scaling the clean energy industry. But that doesn’t mean inventing a whole new class of complex tradable securities. States and cities are already showing how well established conventional tools, such as bonds, can help clean-energy projects access low-cost, long-term capital markets. That’s the conclusion of a report,
Laboratories and clean rooms at universities, research labs and pharmaceutical companies waste significant energy, largely because they often ventilate at rates far greater than needed to protect the people and processes inside. Several strategies can be applied to save energy while maintaining safety and process integrity. They include:
A bold plan released on August 8th tells how Australia can upgrade all its existing buildings – including homes – to achieve zero carbon emissions in 10 years, and at only a modest cost difference from business as usual over 30 years.
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing is a promising tool to help drive investment in building energy efficiency. We analyze what PACE programs are doing to attempt to maximize their appeal to building owners and financiers. Nascent PACE programs differ slightly in program design features. The issue brief ‘Setting the PACE’ by the Institute for Building...
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation created the Demand Response Availability Data System (DADS) to evaluate the performance of demand response programs being used to stabilize the grid or reduce high wholesale energy prices. From summer 2011 through summer 2012, NERC collected data on demand response events dispatched by grid operators, and the actual reduction of load or...
PACE finance programs allow property owners to pay for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and/or water efficiency projects through an additional assessment on their property tax bill over 5-20 years, depending on the lifespan of the equipment. There is no up-front cost to the building owner and the investment is immediately cash flow positive. If the property is sold, the benefit of the...
The theme at the Garrison Institute’s 2013 Climate, Mind and Behavior Symposium, “The Importance of Variation and Diversity in Sustainability and Climate Work,” examined how patterns of diversity in “opinions, attitudes, knowledge, behaviors, worldviews, social capital, networks, community, resources and other factors” affect efforts to combat climate change. Drawing...
Improving the energy efficiency of a building can result in gains in worker productivity in addition to generating energy cost savings. Salary expenses are generally a high proportion of a commercial entity’s costs. Even a small percentage gain in productivity, multiplied by the number of employees, can result in considerable savings. Comfort plays a key role in productivity.
Net zero energy buildings are emerging as a trend of the future – in the 2013 Energy Efficiency Indicator survey, over 70 percent of respondents said they intend to achieve zero, near zero, or positive energy status for at least one of their buildings in the future. Net zero energy buildings demonstrate the art of the possible for energy efficiency and renewable energy while communicating...
If interest is high in building energy efficiency in the U.S., why aren’t investments in efficiency growing? Experts from local and federal governments, the private sector, and non-government organizations explored that question at a Roundtable Dialogue in Washington, D.C., convened by the Johnson Controls Institute for Building Efficiency and the Institute for Market Transformation, the...
Today’s technologies automate the collection, storage and retrieval of data from across multiple buildings and building subsystems. Technology makes that data available to decision-makers from the C-level, to facility managers, to occupants, informing decisions that improve building efficiency.
The 2013 Energy Efficiency Indicator (EEI) study, conducted by the Johnson Controls Institute for Building Efficiency, analyzes the energy efficiency technologies, practices and investments made by over 3000 executive decision-makers around the world. Conducted annually since 2006, this year’s respondents come from ten countries and a variety of commercial, industrial and institutional...
The 2013 Energy Efficiency Indicator (EEI) study, conducted by the Johnson Controls Institute for Building Efficiency, analyzes the energy efficiency technologies, practices and investments made by over 3000 executive decision-makers around the world. Conducted annually since 2006, this year’s respondents come from ten countries and a variety of commercial, industrial and institutional...
Thought leaders on energy efficiency finance convened in Chicago May 13-15, 2013, for the 7th annual ACEEE Energy Efficiency Finance Forum. Participants discussed the latest developments and innovations in energy efficiency finance, in particular:
In May 2013, the Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) released a report, “Local Chambers as Change Agents: Creating Economic Vitality through Clean Energy and Innovation,” outlining ways in which chambers of commerce can help small to medium-sized business better understand and use energy. CICE provides information on a variety of topics, including energy efficient building...