The race to modernize commercial buildings is accelerating, fueled by mounting business pressures related to carbon footprint, resource stewardship and ESG (environment/social/governance), along with factors like C-suite directives to optimize space for the post-pandemic hybrid work era.
As facility managers mobilize to bring their buildings and infrastructure into the digital age, one resource in particular will be critical to their ability to meet the sustainability goals that are driving many of their modernization projects. It’s a resource you can’t touch or drive a screw into: data. In fact, data could well be among an operator’s most important assets in the effort to reduce carbon footprint, use resources more efficiently and maximize return on their assets.
There’s growing urgency for them to do so. According to the World Green Building Council (WGBC), the building construction sector is globally responsible for 36 percent of energy consumption, 38 percent of energy-related carbon emissions and 50 percent of resource consumption. What’s more, about 30 percent of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted, according to figures cited by the U.S. Dept. of Energy.
Reversing these trends, according to the WGBC, “requires deep collaboration across the entire value chain, and radical transformation in the way buildings are designed, built, occupied and deconstructed.”
And perhaps above all, it requires the ability to manage, share and draw insight from data.
Advanced data capabilities will be key to the success of initiatives like the WGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, in which more than 130 businesses and organizations around the world, along with various cities, states and regions, have agreed, by 2030, to reduce energy consumption and eliminate emissions from energy and refrigerants in existing buildings, replace fossil fuels as fast as practicable, and ensure that major renovations are highly efficient and maximize use of renewable resources.
With buildings currently accounting for 30 to 40 percent of total city emissions, and construction and operations responsible for 36 percent of energy use globally, meeting 2050 climate accord targets would require a reduction of 80 to 90 percent in building emissions, according to figures cited by Deloitte.
Regulators are responding to troubling trends like these by enacting stricter requirements for building construction and operation, which means owners and operators likely will face new responsibilities to disclose their carbon footprint-related activities and comply with other environmental regulations.
They also are feeling the pressure from insurers and investors, who are re-evaluating their options based on new sustainability-related risk, brand image and other factors. Likewise, sustainability metrics are factoring more heavily into tenant decisions about where to situate themselves.
Therein lies an opportunity for facility managers to use the sustainability/carbon-reduction attributes of their buildings and their overall portfolio to earn more favorable terms from investors and insurers, and to attract the most desirable tenants. Sustainability is an increasingly marketable attribute for commercial developers and facility managers, one they would be wise to leverage in promoting their properties.
Another appealing aspect of modernization projects is their potential for creating new revenue streams for building owners and operators around value-added services for tenants like electric vehicle charging, for example, or data as a service. There’s a golden opportunity to monetize modernization investments.
To make the most of the opportunities that building modernization presents, while also meeting compliance responsibilities and ESG goals, it’s going to be critical for the various stakeholders in a modernization project to have access to the right data, and to the right digital tools to make sense of that data. That includes:
As a complement to digital twin, how about an online registry for buildings and the materials and products that were used in their construction? The Madaster Foundation has established such a registry, an important step in encouraging materials reuse, smart design and waste reduction.
With a mastery of their data and a mindset that views carbon-reduction and ESG as an opportunity rather than a burden, building owners and operators will be in a strong position to make sustainability profitable and profitability sustainable.
Johnny Clemmons LEED AP, BD+C, is Global Vice President, Industry Head, and former Chief Engineer for the Engineering, Construction, & Operations industry business unit of SAP America.
