Activity

The global market for advanced HVAC controls will grow from $7 billion in 2014 to $12.7 billion in 2023, a new report from Navigant Research says.

Asia Pacific is currently the largest market for advanced HVAC controls, followed by North America and Europe. The market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.9 percent during the period.

Commercial buildings consume perhaps 12 percent of the world’s final energy supply, though global data is scarce. The resulting focus by building owners, governments and regulatory agencies is to optimize commercial building energy use.

Advanced HVAC Controls examines those technologies, which typically account for roughly 40 percent of total building energy consumption, though this value varies regionally based on climate and other factors.

Many current control systems regulate space temperature without regard for energy consumption. However, advanced controls sequences such as demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) and energy optimization provide the promise of improved efficiency. Advances in HVAC technology are being driven by better and faster communications, sensor technology, and user interfaces, as well as by regulatory requirements mandating more efficient underlying control algorithms. The most important technology trends include:

• The availability of analytics and optimization software to increase energy efficiency and better manage maintenance costs
• Tightening of building energy codes in most regions of the world that prescribe standards of the operation of HVAC equipment to include advanced sequences
• The acceptance of wireless technologies for at least some portion of the building controls network, which is especially beneficial for retrofit applications
• The wider adoption of open standards for controls functions (such as building automation and control networks [BACnet]) and communications based on the Internet Protocol (IP) suite and Ethernet connectivity