At E3M we not only live and work in energy every day but we keep a pulse on what’s happening in the building industry at a state and national level.
Here are five trends we expect will affect the energy, engineering, and construction industries in 2024. Read on to learn what this means for your business.
- For the first time in 2-3 years, the cost of construction materials are finally stabilizing to more typical cost inflation rates.
- There’s been a slowing of architecture and engineering construction over the past six months, due to high interest rates and material costs.
- Most projections show that interest rates are likely to decline in mid-2024 that could increase spending, but we often see hesitancy to build in an election year.
- Businesses aren’t quite ready for net zero, but are incorporating pieces and parts as they work towards it.
- Rebate incentive programs continue to expand and explore different opportunities.
What does all this mean?
While construction material costs are stabilizing, that doesn’t mean they’re decreasing—just that the rate of increase is slowing from when they were doubling on a monthly basis in 2021. It makes sense that the rate of new builds also slows down when it’s expensive to do so.
That’s why, in a potentially stagnant construction year, companies look to save money in their current buildings by optimizing their energy systems. This is similar to how people are currently choosing to stay put and renovate their homes due to high interest rates.
So we predict we’ll see an increase in energy management: companies looking to do better with what they have.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 30% of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted. Luckily, there are many rebate incentive programs offering opportunities to get creative with your building’s energy savings to optimize existing building control systems.
Ultimately, improving on your existing energy management processes is the most sustainable decision you can make for your business.
E3M is one of only of a few partners for both Consumers Energy and SEMCO in the State of Michigan.
Both of these utilities offer significant incentives to offset energy audits utilizing E3M’s services. This can mean you can receive an energy audit from E3M at NO COST to you.
Not in Michigan? We’re authorized to complete energy audits in other states as well.
