Given the challenging business and economic environment of recent years, governments, building owners, building tenants, and companies in general are looking for ways to become more efficient, notes Pike Research. A key mechanism for achieving greater efficiency is building energy management systems (BEMS), defined as the software, hardware, and services associated with the intelligent (i.e., information and communication technology-based) monitoring, management, and control of energy, specifically for reducing overall energy consumption and cutting energy costs. Advances in technology and the availability of more detailed information on how buildings can use energy more efficiently have sparked growing interest in, and rising sales of, these systems.

“Over the last year, the convergence of building equipment and IT has advanced at a rapid pace, enabling a higher degree of control over building energy and operations than ever before,” said research analyst Eric Bloom. “The BEMS market is evolving rapidly and is enjoying a burst of innovation, leading to an explosion in the amount of data that is available on the energy performance of commercial buildings.”

North America continues to lead the global market for BEMS, but Pike Research expects growth to accelerate worldwide. While interest in BEMS and energy efficiency is high in Western Europe, Asia Pacific will take its place as the second largest market in the coming years, due to the extremely rapid pace of construction in the region as well as the challenge of meeting soaring energy demand with limited supply. Outside of these three regions, the BEMS market is expected to generally experience single-digit growth and modest levels of overall spending over the forecast period. In every region, the existing building stock is a large market for BEMS sales, particularly buildings constructed or modernized within the last 30 years with moderately sophisticated building management systems.

Publication date: 02/13/2012