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JCI's Global Study Finds Rising Energy Costs Drive Green Growth

JCI's Global Study Finds Rising Energy Costs Drive Green Growth

Pressed by concerns about rising energy costs, building execs worldwide say that a greater need for savings is driving stronger efforts to make facilities energy efficient.

That's a key finding of the latest and largest global study by Johnson Controls Inc., its Institute for Building Efficiency and its partners in the fifth annual Energy Efficiency Indicator survey -- the International Facility Management Association and the Urban Land Institute.

The survey results are being released later today at the North American Energy Efficiency Forum, which Johnson Controls and the U.S. Energy Association are conducting in Washington, D.C.

"There is clearly a trend around the focus on energy efficiency and the need to make it a greater and greater priority in decision-making in operating facilities," said Dave Myers, president of Building Efficiency and a corporate vice president for Johnson Controls, who outlined major survey findings during a phone interview with GreenBiz.com.

The nearly 4,000 building owners and operators, from CEOs to frontline facilities managers, who responded to the latest survey have a "high expectation for rising energy costs," said Myers. Eight in 10 anticipate double-digit price increases in the next year and with that expectation comes a "greater emphasis on the cost-savings side of energy efficiency," he said.

Those factors are pushing companies to pursue energy management and efficiency projects at record levels, so now more than ever, it's essential for those projects to deliver solid cost savings, the survey indicates. That need has placed cost savings more firmly at the top of reasons why companies are turning to building efficiency improvements. Government incentives and enhanced public image, respectively, are the second and third most cited reasons. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which was ranked second as a driver in the 2010 survey, slipped to fourth place this year.

Highlights of the survey results include:

• Energy management grows in importance. Seven in 10 respondents say so this year, compared with six in 10 in 2010. A global snapshot of the response shows 89 percent of the respondents in India consider it important; in China, 85 percent; in the U.S. and Canada, 66 percent; and Europe, 61 percent.

• Building efficiency remains the leading strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions according to 52 percent of the respondents from the U.S. and Canada, 28 percent in Europe, 27 percent in China and 24 percent in India.

• Buildings are getting greener. Almost four in 10 respondents, twice as many as in 2010, say their company has at least one certified green building in the corporate portfolio. Another 32 percent say they are incorporating green building standards in projects, though they may not be certified. Retrofits edges out new construction when certification is sought -- 39 percent say they plan to certify existing buildings; 35 percent intend to do the same for new construction.

• A majority of companies are targeting reductions. Three out of four respondents say they have set energy or carbon goals, and the average energy reduction target is 12 percent.

• More data doesn't always equal more action. Building execs have greater access to data and more than eight in 10 say they measure and record data at least weekly or monthly. Yet, fewer than two in 10 say they review or analyze that information at least weekly.

• But better tools and systems usually do. Companies that use advanced energy metering and management systems and other smart grid or smart building technology are almost three times more likely to review and analyze energy data frequently.

• Comprehensive strategies are more productive. Respondents whose companies "set reduction goals, analyze energy data frequently, add internal or external resources, and use external financing" implement four times as many improvement measures as organizations that don't pursue such a strategy.

• Funding and financial returns continue to be chief obstacles. Thirty-eight percent of respondents in the U.S. and Canada and 30 percent in Europe said capital access issues are the biggest barrier to efficiency projects. Results of the European component of the survey released last month illustrate the funding struggles in the region.

Full details of the global survey are scheduled to be presented in a webcast shortly before 1 p.m. EDT today. More information is available at www.eeforum.net.

By Leslie Guevarra
Published June 16, 2011

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