Capital investments in energy efficiency for commercial buildings will rise this year according the fourth annual Energy Efficiency Indicator released by Johnson Controls this week. This follows a decline from last year.
· 52% plan to make capital investment in energy efficiency in 2010, up from 46%.
· 60% plan to making operating budget expenditures in energy efficiency programs, up from 55%.
Energy retrofits will impact talent acquisition strategies in a couple different ways. First, the increase in activity will simply increase the need for more qualified HVAC, electrical and controls professionals. Perhaps more importantly, however, the implementation of these technologies will require new kinds of talent that are not traditional to our industry. That could include IT and programming types for digital controlled technologies, powerline electrical for the integration of on-site renewable and smart grid/smart meeting technologies, and RF for the wireless transport technologies. Engineering firms, contractors, and building owner/managers need to be prepared for both general expansion and new technologies.
Comments