Energy-efficient lighting dominates facilities managers' energy efficiency efforts
Turns out there a really good reason that our posts about more efficient lighting technology tend to get more traffic than the norm here at GreenTech Pastures: Facilities managers polled as part of the latest Energy Efficiency Indicator point to lighting as not only their top energy-efficiency measure, but also the green technology that has the best price-performance ratio.
The indicator is an annual research project and survey conducted by building automation technology company Johnson Controls and the International Facility Management Association. (This is the four year it has been published.) The 2010 poll represents the opinions of 1,435 North American executives who had capital or operations budget responsibility for facilities AND who were involved in reviewing or monitoring energy usage for their organization. You can read more about the operational implications in my related blog on SmartPlanet.
Turns out that switching to energy-efficient lamps, ballasts or fixtures is the most popular energy efficiency measure embraced by those survey, cited by more than 72 percent as one of their strategies. Another 56 percent said they relied on adjustments to heating and air-conditioning systems, while 40 percent have installed daylight or occupancy sensors.
The fact that facilities managers are gravitating toward lighting isn't all that surprising when you consider that 51 percent say that it will offer the greatest performance-price ratio improvement of all the technologies they are using to address energy efficiency. The respondents were asked to pick their three most important technologies from this standpoint. The other top choices were smart building technology (44 percent) and solar photovoltaics (38 percent).
A less positive trend among respondents, however, was the fact that the facilities managers are calling upon renewable energy technology less often. Solar electric was still the most popular option, but usage was down compared with 2009 responses. Here's the chart summarizing that trend:
