Schneider Electric has announced the start of construction on a $5 million energy savings performance contract (ESPC) project with the city of Tupelo, Mississippi. It is expected to reduce the city’s utility budget by 18 percent, saving more than $140,000 in annual energy costs or $2.8 million over the life of the project.

In addition to supporting industry research across residential HVAC, supermarkets, commercial kitchens, and data centers, Emerson’s new 40,000-square-foot innovation center will itself be a lab for commercial building controls and HVAC technology.

Daintree Networks Inc. won both customer project and product honors, taking home four awards in all, at the 2015 Golden Bridge Awards. More than 40 judges from a broad spectrum of industries from around the globe determined the winners from competitors including public and private firms, for-profits and non-profits, and start-ups.

Antares Capital and American Capital arranged for $170 million in financing to support the acquisition of Kele Inc. by Snow Phipps Group LLC. Kele is a distributor of peripheral control products used in building automation systems. Snow Phipps is a private equity firm focused on middle-market control investments.

The building automation market is forecast to experience steady but incremental growth over the next five years, generating $45 billion in 2021, according to a report from ABI Research. Europe will be the biggest market in terms of revenue followed by North America and Asia Pacific in 2021.

ENE Systems Inc., one of the largest independent controls contractors in New England, has purchased Pro Controls, a Bow, New Hampshire-based facilities and energy management control system contractor.