The global market for zero net energy (ZNE) commercial buildings is expected to grow to $239.7 million by 2018, with a five-year CAGR of 50.06 percent, reports BCC Research.
The driving factor for the growth will be global green building boom, governmental regulations, and regional environmental concerns.
ZNE buildings, which consume as much energy as they generate will be the next target for green building construction and renovation in coming years.
The market is developing through an early stage and ZNE has become the focus of the green building industry and regulators in major markets.
Asia-Pacific, especially China, will be leading the global market, where the sheer volume of the building boom in urban areas combined with the need to reduce energy consumption will drive significant growth.
Asia -Pacific region is expected to exceed $117 million in 2018, recording high growth of 55.3 percent CAGR.
The European Union (EU) has set intermediate term targets for energy reduction in buildings, which is driving growth at a healthy pace.
As a result, EU is the second largest market and is projected to reach $75 million in 2018 with a CAGR of 47.5 percent.
Eventually, the Americas will be led by the United States due to government encouragement through specifications and guidance with the greatest activity in government facilities.
This market is expected to reach $47.6 million in 2019, attaining 45.9 percent CAGR.
Though there is much concern about reducing carbon footprint in the United States, low-cost fossil fuel-based energy is making it difficult to justify ZNE investments, especially since they require a portion of the spend to be tied to more expensive renewable energy sources, says, Michael Sullivan-Trainor, editor, BCC Research.
For this reason the economic drivers for ZNE and therefore the fastest-developing markets will be in Asia-Pacific and Europe, where high costs and low availability for conventional energy sources are driving renewable energy spending, he explained.
Sabeena Wahid
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