Facilities Control market set for growth
Beyond the downturn in the market, the controls industry has escaped troubled times and even posted positive earnings which leaves the door wide open for a return to more prosperous times.
Today's facilities control systems are doing more than standard scheduling and alarming for various building support systems. A change in thinking has spurned new factors that were not always considered in the past. Higher importance on energy efficiency, lower environmental impact, and improved employee productivity have gained more attention by the facility owner as they total up to a lower total cost of ownership and a more attractive bottom line. This change in direction from that of traditional HVAC solutions, has raised new requirements for HVAC solutions to provide facilities managers the proper tools to perform the same sophisticated business intelligence analysis typically reserved for enterprise applications.
When you consider that within the past five years there have been several major pieces of legislation in the US that provide a 'means' and a 'way' for financial incentives via increased tax deductions, loans, and grants to increase energy efficiency in buildings, the future of Facilities Controls looks to be very well positioned for growth. In a time when the primary factor slowing growth in nearly all markets is the lacking availability of capital and opportunity, the costs for capital investments provide new and increased incentives to rally investments in building efficiency. This alone may be enough of to overcome the prevailing headwinds facing the overall economy and lead to healthy growth in the Controls market in the years to come.
(10/27/2009)
Energy Efficiency opportunities for schools thanks to Stimulus Funding and ASHRAE
ASHRAE helps Public Schools qualify for federal funding with their Advanced Energy Design Guide, as Oklahoma Schools seek funds from the federal government as laid out by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
ASHRAE and other leading building industry organizations have developed the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings. The guide provides recommendations for achieving 30 percent energy savings over the minimum code requirements of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999. Federal funding by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (PDF) has established new avenues for financial funding and budget short falls for that of Oklahoma Public Schools. Programs of note include the State Fiscal Stabilization fund and Title I Funding, Part A- Supporting Low-Income Schools as listed below. Microsoft Word files are made available from the US Department of Education web site which list ARRA funding opportunities for Oklahoma Schools.
State Fiscal Stabilization funds:
Funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are distributed directly to states to in order to help stabilize state and local government budgets in order to minimize and avoid reductions in education and other essential public services. Funds are to help ensure that local educational agencies and public institutions of higher education have the resources to prevent cuts and retain educational personnel and staff, support the modernization, renovation, and repair of school and college facilities, advance early learning through post-secondary education reforms.
As of today, $421,000,000. in State Fiscal Stabilization funds have been awarded to Oklahoma.
Title I, Part A– Supporting Low-Income Schools:
The ARRA provides $10 billion in additional Title I, Part A funds to state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) to support schools that have high concentrations of students from families that live in poverty in order to help improve teaching and learning for students most at risk of failing to meet state academic achievement standards.
As of today, $109,000,000. in Title I funds have been awarded to Oklahoma.
(10/11/2009)
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