Building owners across the world are increasingly adopting building automation (BA) systems to tackle rising energy costs. As buildings account for nearly one-third of global energy use and are the leading contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, need for BA systems will only grow. Opportunities for manufacturers will be particularly promising in the stabilizing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, Germany and the United States due to high infrastructure spending.
 
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Global Building Automation Market, finds that the market earned revenues of $5.78 billion in 2013 and estimates this to reach $7.28 billion in 2018. The data center and hospitality application segments will experience rapid growth owing to growing Internet penetration in emerging nations and the expansion of the tourism market.
 
“Government regulations and policies designed to improve energy efficiency in buildings are driving the market for BA systems especially in North America, Europe and parts of Asia-Pacific,” said Frost & Sullivan Energy & Environmental Research Analyst Balaji Anand Sagar. “Market participants realize that BA systems are essential to achieve energy efficiency targets dictated by government regulations and are offering reliable solutions at competitive prices.”
 
However, insufficient clarity on benefits of BA systems is discouraging building owners from considering these solutions during the budgeting and bidding stages. Further, the lack of standardization of BA products across regions is lowering customers’ confidence.
 
Providing turnkey solutions with robust ICT and engineering capabilities will help BA companies boost their visibility in specific application markets. Rolling out open BA systems that use standard protocols must also be a go-to-market strategy.
 
“Intelligent building control systems, fault detection, predictive diagnostics, big data analytics, and remote correction on the cloud will shape the market over the next few years,” noted Sagar. “Further, open connectivity and interoperability of BA systems will enable the automation of a much broader ‘Internet’ of devices and take the global BA market to greater heights.”