October 15, 2024
3 min read
Smart Tech Would Make Your Office Greener
Implementing smart technologies like demand-controlled ventilation could reduce the carbon footprint of office buildings, which contribute over one third of fossil fuel emissions globally
Partially occupied offices consume more fossil fuels than you might think.
Hybrid work is here to stay, leaving office buildings partly deserted. Rather than saving us energy, however, these empty halls and offices keep guzzling fossil fuels and warming our planet. But we can change this collateral damage of working-from-home.
Partly occupied buildings simply do not achieve the expected reductions in energy use. For instance, energy use does not decrease as much as anticipated when buildings are empty in colder climates since their occupants are not present. Why? Because building designs can benefit from heat gains from their occupants. Once their occupants depart, HVAC systems must work harder to compensate for the lack of heat, maintain a baseline temperature and prepare for reoccupancy. All that means more energy consumption.
Partial occupancy is particularly relevant now as teleworking becomes more common post peak pandemic, leading to many empty or partially occupied office buildings. Building operations and construction contribute to over one third of emissions globally, making this infrastructure a good target for energy savings.
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Smart technology is one of the important answers. Around the globe, we should invest in smart building technologies and adopt flexible strategies (such as relaxing thermostat temperatures during partial occupancy) to improve energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of…
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