Middle East business leaders and decision-makers consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives to be a top business priority, focusing on energy management and occupant safety and well-being, GDNonline states.
According to a survey commissioned by Honeywell on building sustainability and energy management, more than 300 business leaders and decision-makers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt revealed that over the last two years, ESG has grown in importance within organizations, driven by an increased focus on the need for sustainability improvement, and an immediate requirement to support cost-efficiency improvements and occupational health and safety resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eighty-nine percent of respondents say that environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are important to their organization’s strategy with 84% saying that energy management and sustainability are important to their organisation today.
Eighty percent of respondents say that the importance of energy management and sustainability in their organisation has increased over the last two years.
Occupant health and safety (50%) is the most commonly invested in area of ESG.
Forty-three percent of respondents say that COVID-19 helped accelerate their organisation’s energy management and sustainability initiatives, versus only 21% who say the pandemic hindered such initiatives.
Energy efficient lighting, predictive maintenance software and HVAC optimisation are now common areas of investment among building managers, with approximately 76% of respondents in UAE and KSA and 58 percent in Egypt confirming that their organisation implemented air quality measures in their building during COVID-19.
Eighty percent of respondents believe that an autonomous control or a predictive maintenance solution would improve their organisation’s energy management operations.
Eighty percent of respondents believe that digital-based solutions available today are effective in improving energy efficiency of buildings.
Honeywell’s building technologies help enable smarter buildings and building portfolio management, simplify facility operations, and increase operational and energy efficiency, driving business growth.
Honeywell Forge enterprise performance management software-as-a-service can drive digital transformation in buildings while reducing energy consumption and delivering operational efficiencies.
For example, Honeywell Forge Energy Optimisation is a patented, cloud-based, closed-loop solution that connects to a building’s existing HVAC systems to optimize energy consumption.
This closed-loop solution operates without the need for human intervention by regularly analyzing near real-time conditions data – such as weather and occupancy – with predictive, machine learning models that compute and adjust set points automatically over a facility’s entire HVAC distribution system. This solution supported the United Arab Emirate’s first accredited smart university to achieve double-digit energy savings.
With Energy Service Company (ESCO) accreditation in the UAE (Dubai, Sharjah, Abu-Dhabi, Ras al Khaimah) and Saudi Arabia, Honeywell is licensed to provide energy services to customers in building management through Energy Service Performance Contracting (ESPC), Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) and building retrofits. Globally, Honeywell has completed more than 6,000 EPC projects, delivering more than $10 billion in guaranteed energy and operational savings.
“As an active ESCO in the region, we understand the challenges of driving energy efficiencies across facilities. By treating buildings as dynamic entities and deploying the right technologies, it’s possible for building owners and managers to achieve both goals of meeting their energy efficiency targets and creating a healthier indoor environment for their occupants,” said George Bou Mitri, president, Honeywell Building Technologies, Middle East, Turkey and Africa.
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The modern era is a clash of several trends. On the one hand, many countries have moved from the era of “industrialism” to “post-industrialism,” or the information society. If this was relevant only for Western countries in the 70s, now it applies to almost all GCC countries. So let’s talk about the coming of the “future shock” and “new media” here!
