Retrofitting buildings for sustainability
With more than 50% of all existing buildings expected to still be in use by 2050, sustainably retrofitting current building stock is a must for a net-zero future.
View our e-guide to create a decarbonisation plan and transform your facility into a Building of the Future.
The benefits of a more sustainable building are endless. Yet, a retrofit project of any size is never straightforward. Every building is unique and presents its challenges.
Operational teams are best suited to lead a sustainable retrofit. Decarbonisation can be daunting for facility managers due to changing technology trends, government regulations, and certification requirements.
Explore our e-guide to learn how to decrease your carbon footprint, better control energy consumption, generate your own energy, and inspire your community.
Retrofit your building in three easy steps
Strategize
Digitise
Decarbonise
Don’t know how to start?
Download our checklist
Explore our solutions for retrofitting buildings for sustainability
To deliver sustainable buildings, you need seamless, tested, and reliable integration of all systems, both inside and outside of your building – from lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), to energy and power, and renewable energy sources. You also need technology and tools to capture building data insights simply, interpret the data, and then act to manage and automate systems’ energy use. With continuous monitoring, you can improve the performance of your HVAC and optimise the asset lifecycle.
Our building management solutions help create net-zero Buildings of the Future with tested, native integration of systems across your enterprise. This enables you to meet energy and sustainability challenges and modernise your building efficiently while leveraging systems and devices you already have.
EcoStruxure™ Building Operation, our open, scalable, and data-centric building management system, delivers seamless integration, visibility, and control across native and third-party building systems and subsystems. View, manage and automate systems and energy use from a single control centre, and unlock data insights from sensors, connected devices, and systems to deliver actionable insights to increase sustainability.
EcoStruxure Connected Room Solutions help increase sustainability at the room level. Enabled with an internet protocol (IP) backbone, this modular and flexible technology works with the EcoStruxure Building Operation building management system to reduce wasted energy fast using data captured by SpaceLogic Insight-Sensors’ real-time occupancy sensing functionality. It also integrates and automates lighting, blinds, and HVAC systems, allowing you to engage energy-conscious occupants with hands-on control.
Maximise space and energy use for your needs based on real data with Planon Workplace Insights, our workplace management software that transforms and analyses data in easy-to-understand dashboards.
EcoStruxure Building Advisor, our suite of digital services, helps unlock BMS performance to remotely and proactively maintain buildings. It provides key insights into operations and areas for improvement, reduces energy use and unscheduled maintenance, and extends the asset life. To best ensure efficiency throughout the building lifecycle, your operational teams can work with our on-site service teams or one of our certified partners.
EcoStruxure Resource Advisor is our cloud-based solution to manage energy and sustainability footprints. It centralises all cross-enterprise, energy, and sustainability information into a single place, transforming data into actionable insights. Companies can collect, analyse, and automate information that matters for their sustainability goals, powering them to make better business decisions and accelerate results.
How we can help your business
Facility managers continue to face multiple challenges, from new government regulations to rising energy costs. Consequently, many are redefining their portfolio strategy and deploying new technologies to reduce their carbon footprint and optimize energy efficiency. However, justifying renovation projects to meet these initiatives can be challenging in the face of budget constraints and constant occupation of the building.
Our EcoStruxure for Commercial Real Estate solutions can help you achieve a green building certification and accreditation process with a suite of connected products, software, and services. Integration of renewable energy sources, microgrids, and EV solutions into one control center leveraging data from building, power, and energy management can simplify and accelerate the net-zero journey of the building. Leverage our solutions to stand out in the neighborhood and make your occupants proud to live, work and play in a net-zero building.
As an energy-critical sector, healthcare must respond to the climate crisis by reducing its own CO2 footprint. However, many of today’s hospitals and other healthcare facilities are old and involve multiple legacy systems, making monitoring and maintenance an even more complex task. This problem is multiplied by the number of buildings within the complex or organization.
Our EcoStruxure for Healthcare solutions can provide healthcare organizations looking to retrofit their existing buildings with innovative solutions that maximize energy efficiency by measuring, monitoring, and optimizing energy usage. This also includes provisions for EV and electric ambulance charging points, as well as integrating renewable energy sources with microgrid technology to further support decarbonization efforts and reduce carbon footprint.
Guest satisfaction is always the top priority for facility managers, and many are now finding that their guests care deeply about the environment and the efforts that hotels are taking to be more sustainable. This is creating new responsibilities and extending day-to-day activities for facility operations.
Our EcoStruxure for Hotels solutions empower hotels to leverage digitalization and decarbonization to significantly lower energy costs and accelerate the reduction of carbon emissions. We deliver a single control center that integrates data from multiple hotel systems — including guest room, building system, and power system management — and helps improve the building’s efficiency. To further reduce your carbon footprint, we can offer seamless integration of renewable energy sources and sustainable EV solutions. All of this can easily be tracked by operational teams to measure against their sustainability targets and share with staff and guests.
As consumers become more environmentally conscious, it is up to retailers to find ways to meet their expectations and strengthen their brand positioning. Facility managers are being tasked with driving these efforts on-site to decarbonize operations and be compliant with the latest regulations and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. However, with a predominantly multi-location environment, this can be challenging as each building presents its own unique set of features and varying technologies. The ability to integrate these systems and assets is vital for a net-zero future.
Our EcoStruxure for Retail solutions can enhance efficiency — in single and multi-site buildings — by delivering seamless integration into one platform that reduces energy consumption to meet sustainability targets. Operational teams are empowered to make data-driven decisions for a more sustainable building performance that makes a positive impact in their community. We also offer seamless integration of renewable energy sources and sustainable EV solutions to help further reduce your carbon footprint.
Digitalisation and precise information about facility usage is a key to becoming and remaining net-zero. Aspiria, an innovative 200+ acre mixed-use campus featuring world-class workplaces and public spaces, utilises our EcoStruxure solutions to meet their ambitious sustainability goals.
This has resulted in a 16% reduction in annual energy consumption and a $1.5 million annual energy cost savings, while also contributing to a reduction in the carbon footprint of over 10,000 tons.
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Need help with your sustainable retrofit strategy?
Our team of experts are happy to develop a plan to retrofit your building in a way that reduces your carbon footprint and successfully meets your sustainability targets. -
Need help implementing a sustainable retrofit?
EcoXperts, our network of trained and certified partners, are ready to help select and install the necessary technology for retrofitting your building.
1. Why is retrofitting buildings for sustainability important?
Within the last 50 years, greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 90%, and buildings contribute 37% of global CO2 emissions. 30% of the energy consumed in buildings is wasted, with many still using fossil fuels for loads like heating. To limit global warming by 2050 to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – specified 1.5°C, every effort must be made to decarbonise buildings. We encourage you to explore our strategies for retrofitting buildings for sustainability to decrease your carbon footprint and improve energy efficiency for a more sustainable, net-zero future.
2. Why do we need net-zero buildings?
The new, green mindset of tenants, employees, and investors is flourishing. Today, 81% of tenants expect their work buildings to improve their environment and well-being. 65% of hiring prospects say they would be more likely to work for a company with robust environmental policies. Property investors expect corporate environment, social, and governance reporting. Building health and sustainability certificates help enhance occupant satisfaction while strengthening brand image. Furthermore, a new market with new operational challenges is emerging. Ageing equipment can increase risks to safety and reliability and costs for repair or replacement due to supply chain shortages. As systems become more interconnected, automated, and power-sensitive, their maintenance and lifecycle management becomes more complex. Additionally, as facility experts retire and operational demand ramps up, new hiring is more difficult due to the shortage of skilled workers within electrical, facility, plant, and cybersecurity management. It can lead to smaller, less experienced in-house teams having a greater scope of responsibilities across multiple facilities. Retrofitting buildings for sustainability might be a solution to the issue. The race to net zero campaign has mobilised 75% of worldwide countries to commit to net zero by 2050. To meet these expectations, governments are launching aggressive approaches to reduce existing building emissions. There are new mandatory standards and regulations within each jurisdiction and several voluntary standards and certifications to equip teams with best-in-class energy management practices. Financial risks and opportunities are growing. Local regulation non-compliance financial risks, from fines to taxes (such as carbon tax which penalises fossil fuels use), are increasingly more common in several countries. However, government financial incentives can offset your CapEx for sustainable retrofits.
3. Where to start sustainable retrofits and net-zero buildings?
We have prepared a three-step (strategize, digitise, and decarbonise) approach that bridges ambition with action to achieve financial and non-financial values. Whether you’re just beginning your path to net zero, have taken intermediate steps already, or are advanced on your journey, we can support you at every step to retrofitting buildings for sustainability.