As significant economic, political and technological forces evolve, enterprises continue shifting into a more energy-conscious mindset. New advances in technology are making innovative energy management possible, affordable, and achievable from the residential sector to businesses with multiple locations across the country.
Asset-level submetering, environmental monitoring, and cloud-based software platforms, in particular, are changing the way enterprises measure, monitor, and manage energy usage with affordable solutions that can generate up to 30% savings, typically with 24-month-payback. GridPoint has identified five megatrends transforming the way enterprises approach energy management to reduce carbon emissions and save money:
Megatrend 1: Rising and Volatile Energy Prices
Energy prices are on a long-term, secular rise. The United States Department of Energy estimates that industrial electricity prices will grow an average of 1.9% annually and 46% total over the next 20 years after inflation due to demand growth, resource supply, capacity lagging behind increased demand, political events, and unexpected weather such as the polar vortex.
Megatrend 2: Government Regulation and Standards
Numerous organizations create and promote standards for energy management and overall building energy efficiency, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), among others, which highlight the importance of real-time, asset-level submetering to achieve granular visibility into energy use, optimize site operations and satisfy regulatory compliance requirements.
Megatrend 3: Corporate Responsibility
Corporate responsibility continues to be a key goal and priority for corporations and government institutions, as the market and constituents expect good citizenship behavior.
Megatrend 4: Internet of Things
The rapid growth of devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) makes energy management more affordable and effective than ever. IoT devices communicate with each other by sending data over a network without any necessary human interaction. According to Business Insider’s “Here Comes the Internet of Things,” these devices are estimated to grow from 10 billion in 2012 to 70 billion in 2020.
Megatrend 5: Data-driven Energy Management
Finally, you cannot manage what you do not measure. Data-driven energy efficiency management will become an expected approach to achieve maximum financial savings, operational efficiencies, capital returns, and carbon reductions.
As a result of these five megatrends, tomorrow’s successful organizations will become energy-conscious today by leveraging real-time energy usage data to gain visibility, analysis, and control of their overall energy usage.
