Smart building boom shaping the future of smart grids

"As businesses recover following the 'great recession,' building owners continue to focus on managing their operational energy costs and risks. Often, gathering building data is not the issue, rather combining, interpreting, and prioritizing that data is becoming the key challenge," said Jill Feblowitz, Vice President, IDC Energy Insights. "Smart building solutions are valuable technologies for deploying energy management strategies that generate operational efficiencies, cost containment and sustainability benefits that appeal to key stakeholders across chain of command in building management."

Ultimately, utilities will need to examine their own growth rates, assess the construction and upgrading of smart buildings in their service areas, and adapt accordingly. Not keeping up with the trend could affect customer experience and profits, and providers will want to minimize these risks while balancing their budget for smart grid investments. The right approach will support growth and enable significant ROI, if utilities are able to leverage both trends and offer the support companies need for their own smart building efforts.

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