Demand is forecast to continue growing over the next three years on the back of strong activity in the construction of new buildings, participation in a rapidly growing market for ITConvergence and rising energy prices, coupled with increased demand for sustainable buildings having improved energy efficiency and air quality.
These are some of the findings of the 3rd study of the North American market for Environmental Control Systems in non-residential building by i&i - Proplan Limited.
This multi-client study supported by the major manufacturer suppliers demonstrate that potential of this market is not being realized. Penetration of advanced controls in North America should be very much larger than it is today, according to the study.
North America has a larger building stock, a higher spend on building construction, installs more air conditioning and refrigeration equipment, consumes more energy per square foot and has a higher number of heating and cooling degree days than any other developed economy.
Nevertheless, the market spends considerably less on DDC controls per dollar of construction or per square meter of floor space than many of the developed markets of northern Europe, the report concludes.
On the technology front, although significant advances have been made they have brought about evolutionary change and not the disruptive change that the computer and communications industries have had to cope with.
The report says that a metamorphosis of the industry is now underway which is being created by the convergence with IT-Networks and enabled by Web Services and XML. The report estimates that by 2010 around $1.7 billion accounting for 40% of environmental control system sales will be fully IP based.
