Cost savings and government incentives are the top influencers driving an increased focus on energy efficiency in buildings, according the second annual Johnson Controls Energy Efficiency Indicator (EEI) European survey.
Iain Campbell, vice president and general manager at Global Energy and WorkPlace Solutions for Johnson Controls, said: 'We know that when organisations have access to external funding and technical expertise, they implement a greater number of improvement measures, achieve greater savings and realise additional energy reductions.'

The EEI survey captured responses from 857 private and public sector leaders responsible for energy-related decisions for non-residential buildings in six of Europe's largest economies: the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Poland and Italy.

The survey results reveal:

• More than 73 per cent of decision-makers believe the price of energy will increase over the next 12 months.
• Respondents ranked energy cost savings as the No. 1 influence on energy efficiency decisions in both 2010 and 2011. Government and utility incentives ranked No. 2, up from No. 6 in 2010.
• Most respondents expect enactment of a national policy mandating energy efficiency or carbon reductions within the next two years, and improving energy efficiency in buildings is their top strategy for reducing their organisation's carbon footprint.
• A growing number of respondents, 61 per cent versus 55 per cent in 2010 indicated that energy management was either 'extremely important' or 'very important' to their organisations.
• Sustainable buildings are gaining traction among European facilities, with 32 per cent of respondents having certified at least one green building and an additional 22 per cent having incorporated green building elements.
• A lack of internal funding and technical expertise within organisations are among the top barriers to taking action, but organisations that used external financing have successfully completed projects that produce deeper energy savings.

Organisations that secured financing from financial institutions, utilities, third-party ownership and other alternative sources are more likely to pursue the following types of projects that produce deeper energy savings compared with those that rely on internal budgets:

• Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and/or controls improvements (55 per cent external financing vs 47 per cent internal budgets).
• Building enclosure improvements, such as roofs, insulation, windows, seals and weather stripping (36 per cent vs. 19 per cent).
• Onsite renewable energy (29 per cent vs 15 per cent).
• Smart building technologies that optimise real-time energy usage (25 per cent vs 11 per cent).

Johnson Controls announced the European EEI survey results during the second annual Energy Efficiency Forum, co-hosted by the company, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, and The Climate Group. This year's forum, themed 'Energy Efficiency - Time to Get Smarter,' explores integrated ways to promote efficiency in manufacturing, buildings and cities in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin.

The forum focuses on taking a more integrated approach that encompasses policy, funding, technology, business value and communication to achieve European Climate and Energy objectives, which include a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 20 per cent increase in energy savings by 2020.

For further information, please visit www.institutebe.com/efficiencyindicator