The technology used by SME energy managers to manage buildings’ energy use will undergo a “complete” shift to cloud-based systems by 2020, according to a report by Japan’s Global Issues Initiative (GII).
The shift will see building energy management systems (BEMS) increasingly utilising data stored on an external cloud-based server accessible online, as opposed to any single hard drive residing on a server within the building.
According to GII, cloud-based computing technology will shortly eclipse conventional data storage as the most economical solution for small and medium sized businesses.
The cloud BEMS market and the so-called “Software-as-a-Service” (SaaS) market enable multi-site companies to monitor the energy consumption of multiple outlets and compare their performance, GII said.
“Innovative cloud-based solutions are slowly finding acceptance among different global markets for BEMS by offering an economically viable solution to small and medium-sized consumers who are unwilling to install high-cost software,” the report said.
However, the cloud-based BEMS market will see its market penetration restricted to just a few segments of the market, most notably the commercial and industrial sectors.
The technology’s development for energy efficiency applications has thus far been hindered by the global economic slow-down of the past few years.
But, with European and North American energy efficiency drives now in full swing, and Asia-Pacific emerging as a key market, the global market for BEMS is projected to grow at a rate of 8.9% until 2020, enabling investment in the technology.