More building owners and operators are turning their attention to energy efficiency as a means of curbing waste and cutting costs, according to a recent survey.

Rising energy prices, government incentives and enhanced public image are driving energy efficiency in buildings to new heights, according to Johnson Controls’ fifth annual global Energy Efficiency Indicator survey.

In the survey of nearly 4,000 building owners and operators around the globe, seven in 10 respondents indicated that energy management is important to them, up from six in 10 last year. Respondents in India (89 percent) and China (85 percent) expressed the most interest, followed by the United States/Canada (66 percent) and Europe (61 percent).

Three out of four have set energy or carbon reduction goals. Building owners have set an average energy reduction target of 12 percent.

The survey was led by Johnson Controls’ Institute for Building Efficiency, the International Facility Management Association and the Urban Land Institute.

Nearly four in 10 respondents have achieved at least one green building certification, twice as many as the prior year. An additional 32 percent have incorporated green building elements. At the same time, building owners planning to pursue green building certifications for existing buildings (39 percent) slightly outpaced those with plans to certify new construction (35 percent).

Lighting and heating, ventilation, air conditioning and controls improvements continue to be the most popular energy efficiency improvements made in 2010.

Although the primary motivation for energy-efficiency projects continues to be cost-savings, government incentives and enhanced public image are also important, ranking second and third, respectively. Greenhouse gas reduction, which ranked as the second-highest motivator last year, ranks fourth in 2011.

“We are seeing record levels of energy management and reduction projects around the world, driven mainly by financial reasons, more than environmental concerns,” Dave Myers, president of building efficiency for Johnson Controls, said in a statement. “Regardless of the motivations, buildings account for 42 percent of global energy usage, so the growing trend of making buildings more energy efficient is smart business, helps create local-market jobs and benefits the environment.”

Although the report suggests that increasing numbers of building owners and managers are introducing or increasing energy-efficiency improvements, there are still some who have taken no such actions. Many respondents in both the U.S./Canada (38 percent) and Europe (30 percent) cited capital access as the biggest barrier to introducing energy-efficiency measures.

As reported by Urban Land Magazine, the five key obstacles to energy-efficiency investments are:

• Lack of available capital for investment in projects;
• Lack of awareness of opportunities for energy savings;
• Lack of technical expertise to design and complete projects;
• Lack of certainty that promised savings will be achieved; and
• Inability of a project to meet the organization’s financial payback critera.

Typically, awareness and technical expertise are the main barriers to energy-efficiency improvements in India (17 percent and 14 percent, respectively) and China (12 percent and 16 percent) while financial criteria and available capital are greater barriers in Europe (19 percent and 30 percent, respectively) and North America (21 percent and 38 percent).

Despite these challenges, executives worldwide said they have pursued an average of nine different energy-efficiency measures over the past year.

Earlier

Energy Efficiency’s Role in a Recession

Getting Serious about Energy Efficiency

Resources

2011 Energy Efficiency Indicator (EEI)
Johnson Controls, the International Facility Management Association and the Urban Land Institute, June 2011

Growing Number of Building Owners around the World…Pursuing Energy Efficiency
Johnson Controls, June 16, 2011

Energy Efficiency Markets Evolve Globally
by Jennifer A. Layke and Uwe S. Brandes
Urban Land Magazine, Sept. 16, 2011