On a legal pad, a controls package looks like simple addition. Task tuning knocks off 20%. Occupancy sensors, another 30%. Daylight harvesting, say 20% more. Add them up and you're promising around 65% — clean, quick, and wrong. Those percentages don't add, because they aren't measuring the same thing, and the number they produce is one the installed system will never actually hit. On a controls-heavy job, that gap is the difference between a savings claim that holds up when the utility inspects the work and the customer reads the first year's bills — and one that doesn't.
In the age of AI, the pace of nearly every business process has accelerated, ushering in the opportunity for significant increases in speed and efficiency. While leveraging our favorite chatbot or agentic framework has become part of our everyday digital life, the need for a trustworthy source of data has never been more pronounced.
2025 was a year of perseverance for the MUSH (Municipalities, Universities, Schools, and Hospitals) market. Publicly owned facilities across the country faced relentless challenges while remaining operational and serving their constituents and communities. It was a lot of change all at once, and most of it landed on already-stretched facility teams.
Deploying energy-efficiency retrofit projects in private and public sector buildings has become critical to their ongoing efficiency, resilience and cost profiles. Yet, despite the many benefits, owners and service providers alike are often confronted with significant capital outlays that could delay progress.
AI data centers are expanding at a historic rate, and the scale of this growth is placing unprecedented stress on regional power grids. Across the United States, utilities are reporting delayed interconnection queues, overloaded substations, and an accelerating mismatch between supply and demand. Although much of the public narrative focuses on the impact on residential ratepayers, commercial buildings and public institutions are increasingly affected. These impacts include constrained capacity, extended timelines for electrical upgrades, and a rising likelihood of higher electricity costs. In regions where data center development is especially concentrated, these challenges are no longer hypothetical; they are measurable and quickly intensifying.
For more than a decade, the commercial LED retrofit market has been an engine of energy savings, sustainability, and growth for contractors, energy service companies (ESCOs), and facility managers. But now, as we have entered 2025, a pressing question is surfacing: Is the market becoming saturated?
If you lead an energy services organization, you know the game is about making your team operationally excellent to keep up with the pace and rigor of the energy transition boom. Like other innovators, you’ve needed to focus on transforming your business model by leveraging digital technologies to enable efficiency, improve precision, and set your team apart from the competition.
In today's economic landscape, the energy efficiency sector faces a significant challenge: the rising cost of labor. According to NECA, the average hourly wage for an electrician in the U.S. increased by approximately 3-4% annually between 2019 and 2023. In 2019, the average hourly rate was around $28.50, which increased to approximately $32.50 by 2023.
With the increasing focus on sustainability, major corporations like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Walmart are setting aggressive targets, aiming for carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions as early as 2030, some extending to 2040.
But even if your energy service business doesn’t work with giants like these, you might find yourselves working with any of their tens of thousands of suppliers … who will also be held to account for their sustainability practices.
As an energy professional, how do you lead these conversations and become more relevant and vital to your customers?
Rising energy costs, increased demand for energy efficiency among building owners, and stricter energy codes have all increased the demand for LED Lighting controls.
In our recent webinar, “Leveraging Controls to Specify Code-Compliant Retrofit Projects,” StreamLinx Director of Products Mike Seifert joined Wayne Callum, VP of Sales of North America for Linmore Labs, to discuss the importance of energy codes and controls, how advanced control systems can enhance your energy-efficient retrofit projects, and how to use tools like SnapCount to sell prospective clients on energy efficiency. Here’s a recap in case you missed it.
