Within the industry, we talk a lot about the environment-saving potential of smart buildings. How our buildings are responsible for 40% of global energy consumption and 33% of greenhouse gas emissions, and how smart technology can be used to reduce that significant contribution to climate change. However, despite that unparalleled environmental impact, we rarely see mention of buildings in the public climate change debate, at least not relative to cars, waste, or fossil fuel extraction. Today we ask why the energy inefficiency of buildings is not a public symbol of climate change and what would happen if it was. “It’s easy to see the impact of certain kinds of environmental problems —the exhaust coming from the tailpipe of the car in front of you or the smog surrounding a factory off the highway. But neither cars nor factories are the largest opportunity to reduce carbon emissions. Buildings are,” says Laurent Bataille, executive vice president of the Digital […]