BUILDING CONTROL SYSTEMS

Commercial buildings, like shopping malls and office parks, are surprisingly complex systems to operate. Interactions within these buildings between lighting, climate control, ventilation, weather, use, productivity, and hundreds of other factors can mean the difference between profit or loss, efficient energy use or enormous waste.

COMMERCIAL BUILDING MATERIALS

Commercial buildings account for close to 20% of U.S. energy use, a share that’s been growing over the last 30 years.1 Our malls, offices, schools and hospitals represent a huge opportunity for efficiency gains and carbon reduction, as they consume more than 5 million GWh of

COMMERCIAL LIGHTING

Unlike American homes, commercial spaces—grocery stores, offices, factories, hospitals and parking lots—often leave their lights on day and night. Even though these settings account for only 2% of the light bulbs in the U.S., they account for 17% of lighting energy use.1 These kinds of spaces

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

From iPads to cell phones to televisions to radios, the average household now owns 24 electronic devices.1 Coupled with appliances, electronics have grown from 17% of residential energy use in 1978 to more than 31% by 20052 and are still annually growing by 6%.3 As much as 10%4 of

LARGE HVAC SYSTEMS

Air conditioners that cool our offices, stores, schools, and restaurants used 1.1 million GWh of energy1 and emitted 151.3 megatons of CO2 equivalent in 2010.2 Adding the electricity and natural gas used by heating and ventilation, commonly provided by the same system, the total energy expenditure used

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING MATERIALS

Houses and apartment buildings account for more than 20% of all of the energy used each year in the United States.1 Almost half of this energy goes to heating homes in the winter and cooling homes in the summer.2 Unfortunately, much of this heating and air conditioning

RESIDENTIAL HVAC SYSTEMS

Across the United States, space heating and cooling account for 43% of residential energy use,1 consuming 2.7 million GWh of energy.2 Although improving the building shell can have a dramatic impact on heating and cooling needs,3 the type of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC) is an

RESIDENTIAL LIGHTING

Currently accounting for 14% of residential energy usage,1 much household lighting could be upgraded to reduce energy consumption while eliminating waste and without sacrificing quality. Simple bulb replacements have the potential to conserve more than 125,000 GWh of energy per year,2 equivalent to removing 10.8 million households