These include the lack of a life-cycle perspective in purchasing decisions, a lack of reliable and verifiable building product performance information, mixed price signals between building owners and tenants, codes barriers to adoption of new technologies, and the length of the replacement cycle of building components and materials. Globalization of the marketplace is expanding the range of available technologies and offering new markets for U.S. technologies. Environmental concerns about climate change, air and water pollution offer opportunities for efficiency to be part of the solution to these problems. Demographics are changing. The U.S. population is aging and moving to the Sunbelt and coastal regions.
People continue to move to the suburbs and there is an increase in the at-home workforce.
These factors are changing how we use energy. Technological changes are rapidly increasing computing power, the degree of automation, and ease of communication. These changes have the potential of affecting every facet of energy usage and offering stunning advances in building controls and operation. Building energy use is changing with more cooling loads, introduction of more natural gas technologies and other advanced technologies such as fuel cells and micro-cogeneration. Real estate ownership patterns are changing.