Greening the Built Environment through Energy Efficiency

Residential and commercial buildings comprise more than 40% of total U.S. energy consumption, with industrial manufacturing comprising another 30%. Through technology and consumer education, the United States has decreased its energy intensity across all sectors of the economy—decreasing energy use per home, per square foot of commercial building, and per widget producedIn buildings, efficiency gains have been largely due to advances in controls, lighting, windows, heating and cooling equipment, office equipment, and appliances. Concurrently, consumers are including on-site generating equipment such as renewable energy and combined heat and power.  This presentation will review historical data trends in energy efficiency in the built environment, highlight major technologies which are driving the trends, present case studies demonstrating the impact on buildings from energy efficiency improvements, and address future challenges to efficiency improvements including the explosive growth in energy demands for electronics and climate change.