Advanced Sensor, Control Technology Brings Big Growth to Building Energy Management Market

The building energy management system (BEM) market is positioned for explosive growth in the next decade thanks to developments in advanced sensors and controls.

So says a new study released by Lux Research, which predicts the market will grow at a 17% compound annual rate to become a $2.14 billion industry by 2020.

"Advanced sensors and controls, although they are very small markets at present, they are going to experience tremendous growth through 2020," said Ryan Castilloux, Lux Research analyst. "With this growth, these advanced technologies are going to enable buildings below 50,000 square feet -- which is 95% of commercial buildings in the United States -- the greatly improve their energy systems."

The effect of this will be drastically improved energy efficiency capabilities to help save companies big money and have a positive effect on the environment.

Optimizing a building's electricity and HVAC usage is a particularly low-hanging fruit for companies pushing for improved energy efficiency, said Castilloux.

"Commercial buildings just consume a tremendous amount of energy," he said. "A significant amount of energy is just going right out the windows or out the envelope of the building. They're energy sieves."

The advanced sensors and controls close up some of these areas of waste by using sensors throughout buildings to turn lights on and off as needed based on occupancy. On the HVAC side, advanced sensors can essentially measure CO₂ levels in a room to determine if a room is occupied and ventilate accordingly.