As energy efficiency in office buildings becomes a more critical business requirement, more companies are setting their sites on the $5 billion commercial buildings market, according to  VentureBeat reporter Iris Kuo in a recent post detailing how Scientific Conservation Inc. raised $15.65 million in a second round of funding. For opportunistc field service and HVAC firms in the commercial sector, that’s a important trend heading into 2011.

SCI’s software is “revolutionizing energy efficiency and operational accountability for the multi-billion dollar commercial building market,” according to the company’s website, which claims its product can help slash energy spending by 15 to 25 percent annually by detecting potential issues before they progress. Basically, the software “tracks and diagnoses energy use and problems across a building’s HVAC, refrigeration, lighting, and other systems,” Kuo explains.

Because commercial buildings are responsible for an estimated 20 percent of the energy consumed in the U.S., SCI’s business is a lucrative one, and other energy efficient building and management companies – Serious Materials, Schneider Electric and Siemens, to name a few – are jumping on the bandwagon.

“Companies that can offer energy efficiency and cost savings to commercial buildings are a playing in a sector expected to get hot this year,” Kuo writes.

ABOUT Sara Suddes

San Francisco-based contributor Sara Suddes writes frequently about small business, the economy and technology.