Lawrence Berkeley National Labs projects that if the entire non-residential building stock of the United States were to undergo conservative building commissioning, it would yield $30 billion in potential energy savings and avoid 340 megatons of CO2 emissions annually by 2030.  Currently, it is reported that less than 5% of existing building stock in the US has been commissioned.  Think of the impact this could have if commissioning were increased worldwide.

This is why venture investors and corporations have become interested in companies like Scientific Conservation – a GE Ecomagination Challenge winner.  Scientific Conservation is one of a growing group of energy efficiency services companies like BuildingIQ and EcoFactor that provide a Software as a Service (SaaS)-based model to promote dynamic and real-time energy efficiency for commercial and residential buildings.

Taking a look at our venture investments database, venture investments into the software and services sectors of energy efficiency has increased by more than five times since 2006.

Investment in Energy Efficiency Software and Services

Source:  Alphabet Soup in the Building: How to Get from BAS to IP by David Cheng, Senior Manager, Research & Advisory, Cleantech Group
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