Energy constraints driving energy efficiency globally

July 25, 2014 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Globally, residential and commercial buildings account for 35 to 40 percent of total final energy consumption. As the global economy becomes increasingly more constrained by energy cost and availability -- as well as energy-related environmental regulations -- many countries are looking to identify measures to address energy demand issues.

The increasing deployment of energy efficiency retrofits for commercial and public buildings provides an important pathway for increasing energy security, decreasing energy demand, as well as demand for new energy production and distribution facilities, and reducing GHG emissions, according to Navigant Research. Energy efficiency retrofits can also be used by commercial building owners and tenants to support greening efforts.

Regulations and policy, technological advances, and cost reductions are all driving increased investment in energy efficiency retrofits. In fact, cumulative investment in commercial building energy efficiency retrofits will total $959 billion from 2014 through 2023, Navigant predicts.

"Led by the Asia-Pacific region, the global market for energy efficiency commercial building retrofits is expected to grow at more than 7 percent a year through 2023," said Eric Bloom, principal research analyst with Navigant Research. "While government mandates play an important part in driving this growth, many retrofit projects are being undertaken on a voluntary basis, as corporate sustainability initiatives spread."

The payback periods for energy efficiency retrofit projects are slowly decreasing, according to the research, but remain a critical factor for most building owners and managers.

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