State of Energy Management Report Now Available

February 22, 2021

State of Energy Management Report Now Available

Identifies Insights and Trends from Sustainability and Energy Leaders During an Unprecedented Year

The second annual State of Energy Management Report, conducted by Acuity Brands through its BuildingOS® product team was published in January 2021. It reveals insights and trends identified by more than 240 energy, facility and sustainability leaders during 2020 and captured the impact of COVID-19 on facility use, occupancy reductions and energy management. Acuity Brands uses research reports to understand industry-shaping drivers   and identify customers’ needs. This information helps us develop products and solutions to support facility teams in reaching their energy and sustainability goals.

COVID-19 Impact

Among the report’s key findings was a 44-point anticipated decrease in building occupancy during January 2021 compared to January 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19 on facility use.  In connection with occupancy reduction, respondents anticipate an increased need for higher efficiency HVAC systems and the ability to remotely manage energy programs to address fluctuating occupancy and other challenges as they adapt system wide performance. 

According to the survey, energy and facility managers’ top organizational goal is resource reduction by decreasing energy, water, and waste consumption (91%). More than half (56%) are committed to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Energy leaders know resource reduction impacts fiscal and strategic growth. And so does Acuity Brands. We’re committed to decreasing material inputs and increasing natural gas and electricity efficiency in our operations. As reported in our 2020 EarthLIGHT report, Acuity Brands reduced its carbon emissions by 9.55% from FY19 to FY20 from more efficient use of raw materials.

EMIS Impact

The State of Energy Management Report also revealed that manual tasks are still slowing down energy management journeys: 77% of respondents said improved access to analytics derived from actionable data is an essential tool to maintaining building health. As promising as these statistics sound, many teams lack the time and money to implement an energy management information system (EMIS) to harness this real-time data, and that impacts their energy management goals.

Along with energy management information systems, surveyed industry leaders told us acquiring all the right tools for building health and occupant safety is equally crucial to reaching usage and sustainability goals. More specifically, 79% ranked lighting upgrades as a high priority to ensuring building performance.

Acuity Brands products and services are designed to help resolve these and other operations challenges for energy and facility managers:

  • An estimated 47% of our customers reduced their energy usage by installing nLight® lighting controls, such as occupancy sensors, daylight harvesting sensors and dimming capabilities, and intelligent building management systems.
  • SensorSwitch™ lighting controls deliver up to 40% energy savings; Distech ControlsTM building management systems deliver up to 30% energy savings on HVAC and lighting.
  • Sunoptics® skylights can deliver up to 57% savings on lighting.
  • Over 350 Acuity Brands’ customers manage 1.5 billion+ square feet on BuildingOS energy management information software, centralizing and harnessing the power of data to improve building operations.

We encourage you to read the full State of Energy Management Report and discover how these takeaways apply to your organizational energy journey.

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