Transforming Building Performance: A Q&A With Satish Ravindran

Industry trends from now until 2030

What major shifts do you expect in building safety, security and sustainability practices in the next five to 10 years, and what do you think is driving them?

Buildings will shift from being designed according to a static code to more of a continuously managed system. As more AI comes in, we’re going to see things like real-time monitoring of energy fault detection, indoor air quality and even cybersecurity sitting on the same platform. That is not the way it is designed today. Currently, buildings operate more as silos. With more influence of AI in buildings, safety, security and sustainability practices will converge.  

Building performance standards already require owners to look at how a building actually performs rather than its intended performance. Rising energy costs and investor pressure are also pushing owners to look at how they are operating and how they can integrate systems on a single platform. So, regulations and economics are converging, and buildings will operate as integrated systems rather than in silos.

What role will new technologies such as AI and digital twins play in buildings and construction?  

As we commission and audit buildings, we find that many building owners are still operating reactively. By 2035, if not sooner, predictive and autonomous building operations will likely increase. Buildings will operate as autonomous entities within guardrails set by operators, adjusting their own set points and sequences of operation. That shift will occur over the next decade, but humans will remain important for establishing those guardrails and monitoring the reliability of this technology.

How will that affect building operations and maintenance teams? How will their day-to-day change?

There will be significant pressure on these teams to upskill as new technologies enter the market. It’s fairly easy for building owners to reach out to vendors and access new products that operate on AI, but day-to-day operators are left to manage systems they were not trained to use.  

Do you think part of this change will occur as some of the legacy workforce transitions out?

Yes. With more advanced systems inside buildings, the workforce will need to adapt. Those with sustainability backgrounds or more technical backgrounds will increasingly leverage data and drive decision-making. That may come from remote operators managing buildings through cloud-based platforms or in-house staff with knowledge of these systems.

HVAC and healthy buildings

Is the HVAC industry adapting to meet both decarbonization goals and indoor air quality to meet expectations for healthy buildings?

Yes. In response to COVID-19-related health concerns, there has been an increase in building ventilation and filtration to help reduce airborne contaminants. This doesn’t go hand in hand with decarbonization and energy efficiency because more ventilation drives up energy usage, so that’s creating a challenge. However, smarter system designs help offset this change.  

With demand-based ventilation and improved filtration, systems can operate based on dynamic rather than fixed conditions. You don’t necessarily have to increase energy use by continuously bringing more air into the building. Controls play a key role here. If you have both decarbonization and indoor air quality goals, buildings can still perform optimally.

What are the biggest safety risks associated with outdated HVAC systems, and can the predictive maintenance we discussed help mitigate them over the next five, 10 or 20 years?

Outdated HVAC systems often have poor ventilation, more downtime and frequent equipment failures. Many have been operating for 30 to 40 years without design data, which can lead to overheating and pressure issues. In environments like healthcare and data centers, where uptime and reliability are critical, these outdated systems stand out.  

Predictive maintenance has the potential to mitigate these risks by 2030 through continuous monitoring and advanced analytics. This can help identify patterns and, as AI improves, provide alerts earlier than your regular maintenance schedule. Having said that, we still recommend replacing systems at the end of their useful life because they are more prone to issues. This shift from reactive to proactive maintenance will play a central role in improving both safety and performance in aging building infrastructure.

Can AI and predictive maintenance help redefine useful life and end of life for some of these older systems?

Definitely. Currently, some facility staff and data operators are overloaded and unable to track everything because most logs are still maintained on paper. As this data moves to digital platforms, operators will have a record of all logs and alarms, and AI can continuously optimize using this information.  

But systems will become outdated more quickly as new technology enters the market. For example, if new chiller technology arrives in 10 years, building owners will need to decide whether to keep an old chiller or replace it with a newer chiller with more technology and integration.

Building technologies (smart buildings and automation)

Which digital building innovations show the most promise for driving sustainable performance gains?

Advanced analytics platforms are an important part of continuous commissioning, which involves monitoring building performance over time. Many buildings are adopting these platforms but do not fully understand how to operate them. While they can achieve energy savings, systems are often not optimally tuned, creating opportunities for ongoing commissioning, monitoring and expert support as a service.

Advanced analytics platforms will remain relevant over the next five to 10 years. They help identify inefficiencies that would otherwise go unnoticed and can deliver energy savings in many buildings. Digital twins offer another significant advancement, particularly for complex buildings. Traditional energy models are reactive, estimating energy use during the design phase. In contrast, digital twins integrate real-time inputs from sensors within a live building, enabling continuous simulation of actual performance and energy use.  

Interoperable platforms are also emerging. These platforms integrate data across systems, allowing lighting, HVAC and energy systems to operate within a unified environment.

Energy efficiency and building performance

What strategies are most effective for reducing operational energy use without compromising comfort, resilience or uptime?

The most effective strategies are often the least flashy. In buildings, simple measures such as optimizing schedules, resetting temperatures, aligning system operation with occupancy and improving control sequences consistently deliver the highest savings without new capital investment. Many assume advanced technology is required to reduce energy use. In reality, it starts with a better understanding of how systems operate. High-performing sequences of operation are often not implemented, even though standards and updated guidelines exist.

As a result, systems frequently run inefficiently. A second chiller may activate before the first is fully loaded, or cooling tower sequencing may not be optimized. Building operators often lack visibility into system performance, describing it as a “black box.” Taking foundational steps — such as reviewing schedules, adjusting temperatures, eliminating simultaneous heating and cooling, and improving control sequences — are standard commissioning practices. However, despite decades of industry development, they remain underutilized and represent significant opportunities to reduce energy use.

Where do you see the biggest energy-saving opportunities that are still underutilized in commercial and industrial buildings today?

Retro-commissioning is the most impactful opportunity. It involves evaluating current energy use and building performance against the original building design. Over time, buildings deviate from that design due to changes in staff, occupancy and operations, leading to performance drift. Retro-commissioning identifies these issues by assessing how systems are operating and restoring them to intended performance. It’s one of the fastest ways to reduce energy use but remains underutilized because it is not widely required by compliance frameworks.  

So, buildings become inefficient simply because we’re using them in ways they were not designed to be used, without even really realizing it?

Yes. Buildings don’t often drift from optimal performance due to intentional action from building operators. Changes accumulate over time, and operations gradually move away from the original design intent, which is often no longer understood. Designers typically incorporate current code requirements and energy efficiency measures, but ongoing performance is not always maintained. A third-party expert can assess the building’s baseline and help restore it to intended operation.

Continuous commissioning extends this approach. Instead of a one-time assessment, it involves ongoing monitoring and optimization using building data. Many vendors provide this as a service through dedicated platforms that continuously track performance.

Why do buildings not implement sequencing?

Some limitations are equipment related. For example, new chillers can accept lower condenser water temperatures, while older chillers cannot. Not all strategies can be implemented universally, but some can still be applied using established standards, such as those from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). The primary issue is that buildings continue to operate as they always have.  

Implementation depends on knowledgeable staff who can direct vendors to apply specific standards. This knowledge gap is the biggest barrier. Without third-party input, building owners and property managers are often unaware of opportunities for improvement. Operators are typically focused on addressing immediate issues, such as tenant heating and cooling complaints, rather than optimizing performance.  

Sustainability, net zero and climate resilience

What are the biggest barriers preventing the industry from meeting net-zero building goals, and what can help overcome them?  

Execution at scale is a major barrier. The challenge is not the technology itself but applying it across portfolios. Emissions can be reduced in a single building, but managing performance across 20 or 30 buildings requires portfolio-level visibility and coordination. Owners need to identify which buildings perform poorly and where energy consumption is highest. Managing multiple assets simultaneously adds complexity.  

Upfront costs also present a challenge. Decarbonizing an entire portfolio requires significant investment, raising questions about funding and cost recovery. These financial and structural barriers continue to limit progress.

Another barrier is the split incentive between tenants and owners. In leased properties, tenants may not be motivated to reduce energy use if owners bear the costs. This makes it difficult to align stakeholders around net-zero goals.  

Future strategy

What is the most overlooked challenge over the next 10 to 20 years, and what should building owners, manufacturers and operators be thinking about to overcome it?

As we put more advanced systems into buildings, are we investing enough in people and processes to operate these buildings effectively? The gap between what the buildings are capable of and how they are actually operated will be significant.  

How do we inform people how a building should be operated? How do we train and upskill facility teams? How do we simplify these interfaces? How do we leverage analytical data? How do we improve decision-making? All of these will be challenges as we move from a static world to a more digital, dynamic one. It’s not a question of whether the capability is there but, rather, how we implement it in our people and processes.

You mentioned there’s a gap between how buildings are operated and what they’re capable of. Do you think a lack of documentation also exacerbates this issue?  

Documentation remains a challenge, especially in existing buildings. However, this will shift as systems become fully digital and data becomes more accessible. The larger challenge will be managing and interpreting the growing volume of data. With widespread adoption of IoT sensors, buildings will generate continuous streams of alerts, logs and performance data. The key issue will be how to use this information effectively.

Does that mean we’re moving from a documentation problem, or a lack-of-data problem, to data overload?

Yes. The industry is shifting from data scarcity to data overload. The focus will move from data collection to decision-making. AI will be able to continuously analyze building performance and provide insights, but the challenge will be acting on that information. Organizations will need to help operators understand the data, interpret it correctly and apply it to improve performance and reduce energy costs. This also creates workforce challenges around training and capability development.

We’re going to have more data than we know what to do with. It will be interesting to see how different industries handle that.

Yes. If you let your building operate in autonomous mode, you’ll need to decide whether to maintain oversight or trust the system to do the work. It’s a bit like an autonomous vehicle — do you put your hand on the steering wheel or let it drive itself? With all of our experience and knowledge, we’ll need to decide how to act on the data and when to let go of the wheel, so we’re not preventing real improvements.