Energy is the clearest return on building automation. Research consistently shows commercial buildings can cut energy use somewhere between 5% and 30% with a well-run system — and HVAC-focused control strategies sit at the higher end because heating and cooling are the biggest single draw in most buildings.
Where the savings come from
- Occupancy-based control. Lighting and HVAC run only where and when people actually are, instead of servicing empty space.
- Automated scheduling. Systems ramp up before hours and down after, with no reliance on someone remembering to switch off.
- Daylight harvesting. Lighting dims automatically as natural light rises.
- Peak-load management. Controlling when heavy systems draw power flattens expensive demand peaks.
- Early fault detection. Equipment running inefficiently gets flagged before it wastes energy for months.
The catch nobody mentions
A large share of buildings that already have automation aren't seeing the savings, for one reason: the controls were installed, never properly commissioned, and left to drift. Setpoints wander, schedules go stale, and the system quietly reverts to running everything all the time.
The savings aren't in owning a BAS. They're in running one that's actually tuned to how the building is used.
How Clariom approaches it
We design control strategies around how your building is actually occupied, commission them properly, and — crucially — keep them optimised over time. That ongoing tuning is what turns a theoretical percentage into a real line on your utility bill.
