New Report on Top 10 Technologies of Smart and Green Building Industry

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report "Smart and Green Buildings - Top 10 Technologies (Technical Insights)" to their offering.

This research service starts off with a list of top 10 themes that provide the ratings from various green building councils. The study then looks at some of the important smart and green technologies that affect the top 10 themes. The study provides a rationale for the selected technology by mapping them to the top 10 themes of smart and green buildings. Each technology provides a brief definition, their involvement in different themes, and a rationale for choosing the technology ahead of others; pertinent drivers and challenges of the technology; important stakeholders along with their developments; and finally some insights on that technology.

This research service titled Smart and Green Buildings -- Top 10 Technologies provides insights on various current and emerging technologies in this space. In addition, the key market drivers and challenges are discussed. In this research, Frost & Sullivans expert analysts thoroughly examine the following technologies: building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), light emitting diodes (LED), building energy management (BEM), biomass, and biogas.

Technology Overview

Regulations Provide Steam for Green and Smart Building Technologies

Legislative policies greatly influence the top ten technologies that impact the green buildings domain. There is a pressing need to ramp up R&D efforts to reduce costs and ensure photovoltaic (PV) cell readiness for rapid development. It is the responsibility of the government and construction industry to support long-term technology innovations for facilitating the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions across the board. Policies need to be introduced for setting up small biogas plants to handle and treat the organic wastes generated by buildings. Green initiatives promoted by the US government under the leadership of Barack Obama and the European Unions drive toward energy efficiency, have energized R&D activities in the field of PVs and biofuels, notes the analyst of this research service. With the allocation of funds and the implementation of energy policies that mandate the adoption of green technologies in new buildings, radical changes are expected in terms of cost effectiveness and efficiency in the renewable energy segment. In addition, tax benefits and incentives are driving technologies such as heat pumps and BIPVs. Government policies have enabled the phasing out of the energy inefficient incandescent bulbs, leading to the promotion of energy saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

Although market prospects look upbeat, there are some challenges stalling its momentum. The economic crisis that began at the end of 2008 led to the slowing down of the construction industry. Since less infrastructure development had taken place the uptake of green and smart technologies into buildings witnessed a downslide. Apart from this, the construction industry in general is very conservative, preferring proven and reliable green technologies to new ones. This poses a serious threat for the development of green and smart building technologies. Policy driven green initiatives, along with tax benefits and subsidies, have so far lured building contractors and developers to utilize smart and green technologies. For instance, in the case of lighting, the old generation would have preferred the use of incandescent bulbs instead of CFLs, if the phase out legislation had not been implemented.

The current concentration of R&D in the PV sector has led to the slowing down of other energy sectors such as wind micro generation. On a general note, the rate of innovation in this green domain has shown little progress in the last year, but the current emphasis to go green is likely to bring out a remarkable change in the next five years. Among all green building technologies, some pertinent technologies that exist today could become obsolete in a very short span of time. For instance, if LED becomes cost-effective and robust, it will phase out CFLs. With global summits repeatedly aiming to minimize energy consumption and reduce pollution, a lot more technology growth in the field of green and smart buildings can be expected in the years to come, concludes the analyst. Positive changes are afoot as big companies such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft have entered the energy domain and have made applications for energy monitoring.

Technologies

The following technologies are covered in this research:

• BIPV
• LED
• BEM
• Biomass /biogas

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary
   • Research Snapshot
   • Research Approach
   • Green & Smart Buildings
   • LEED (USGBC) Category, Versions, Benefits
   • World Green Building Rating Systems
2. Smart and Green Themes
   • Top 10 Themes in Green & Smart Buildings
   • Technology to Theme -- Mapping
3. Top 10 Technologies
   • Top 10 Technologies in Green & Smart Buildings
   • Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV)
   • Heats Pumps (HP)
   • Wind Turbine Generation (WTG)
   • Building Energy Monitoring (BEM)
   • Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL)
   • Smart & Green Windows (SGW)
   • Solar Thermal Heaters (STH)
   • Light Emitting Diode (LED)
   • Non-OPC Material (NOM)
   • Biogas / Biomass (BB)

Source: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/