smart building unsplash

Smart Building Deployments to Exceed 115 Million Globally in 2026

Circular Economy

A new study from Juniper Research has found that the number of buildings globally deploying smart building technologies will reach 115 million in 2026, from 45 million in 2022. This growth of over 150% reflects increasing demand for energy efficiency from businesses and residents alike, as energy costs spike. Juniper Research defines a smart building as a building that uses connectivity to enable economical use of resources, while creating a safe and comfortable environment for the occupants. 

The new research, Smart Buildings: Key Opportunities, Competitor Leaderboard & Market Forecasts 2022-2026, found that by enabling buildings to monitor and automate common functions, significant efficiency gains can be made, while improving the environment for workers and residents. The report recommends that vendors focus on building analytics platforms for the most value to be driven from deployments. 

For more insights, download the free whitepaper: Smart Buildings & the Battle for Sustainability

Non-residential Smart Buildings Driving Spend

The research found that non-residential smart buildings will account for 90% of smart building spend globally in 2026; at a similar level to 2022. This dominance is due to the larger economies of scale in commercial premises driving this spend, as well as the commercial focus of most smart building technologies. 

Research co-author Dawnetta Grant explained: “Smart building platform vendors will understandably focus on non-residential use cases, as these provide a stronger return on investment, but they should not neglect the importance of residential deployments, as environmental concerns intensify.” 

Smart Building Sensor Shipments to Accelerate Quickly

The research found that the global shipments of sensors used in smart buildings will exceed 1 billion annually in 2026 from 360 million in 2022; representing a growth of 204%. Sensors, when combined with intelligent management platforms, will allow smart buildings to adapt to conditions; matching elements such as lighting, heating and ventilation to live requirements. The report recommends that smart building vendors partner with AI vendors to maximise the benefits of automation, such as reduced energy costs and improved working environments.

Source: press release
Photo:

New ITIF Report: To Meet COP26 Promises, Countries must accelerate the pace of Clean Energy Innovation

Fight Climate Change

Countries made commitments during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) to keep the goal of limiting global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Yet these promises will ring hollow unless nations act promptly to accelerate innovation that will make climate solutions feasible, affordable, and reliable in the coming decades—the global energy innovation system is currently in poor health, with weaknesses across most indicators, warns a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy.

“The world needs a healthy energy innovation system to realize future decarbonization commitments, but there has been little progress since the 2015 Paris Agreement, and things need to improve,” says Hoyu Chong, senior policy analyst at ITIF, who authored the report. “We need to look at every part of this system because they all must work together successfully for the system to thrive.”

According to the report that draws from ITIF’s 2021 Global Energy Innovation Index (GEII), the global energy innovation system stands in weak condition, as evidenced by key indicators of knowledge development and diffusion, entrepreneurial ecosystem, trade, market readiness and technology adoption, and national public policies. The entrepreneurial ecosystem is the only bright spot, as early-stage venture capital investments have made a roaring comeback, up 165 percent since 2015.

The paper finds public research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) investments have only risen modestly since 2015 (+29 percent), while the number of high-value patents has gone sideways (+0.2 percent). Trade and national policies performed even worse. Nominal clean energy technology exports (+8 percent) have trailed behind global GDP (+13 percent), while the vast majority of effective carbon rates are below the benchmark of EUR60.

Although clean energy consumption is increasing (+23.6 exajoules in the 2010s), fossil fuel consumption has risen even more quickly (+52.6 exajoules) with no sign of abatement in the near future.

“It is time for activists, non-governmental organizations, thought leaders, and policymakers to stop saying we already have all the technologies we need and only lack the will to force people and companies to use them—this is false,” said Chong. “We still need innovation to make clean energy accessible and affordable worldwide. If national governments, in collaboration with the private sector, fail to close the innovation gap by rejuvenating the global energy innovation system, climate goals that today are within reach will quickly slip away.”

Fonte: comunicato stampa
Foto: Pixabay