The Race to Net Zero Starts Inside the Building
- Resolute Team
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Editor’s Note: This article was originally drafted in 2020, when much of the net-zero conversation focused on electric vehicles, electrification, and the long-term goal of reaching zero emissions by 2050. It has been updated to reflect how the conversation has changed since then, including building electrification, grid demand, AI-driven infrastructure growth, rising energy costs, and the need for better building intelligence.
We are in a race — a race to reduce carbon emissions across every part of the built environment. And the clock is not slowing down.
But here is something that often gets missed in the net-zero conversation: before we add more electric load to our buildings, we need to understand what those buildings are already doing with the energy they have.
Remember when EVs were the whole story?
Not long ago, a lot of the net-zero conversation sounded like a Super Bowl commercial.
General Motors announced plans to produce 30 electric vehicles by 2025, 20 of them available in North America. Their 2021 Super Bowl spot leaned into the competition, more EVs, more charging stations, more urgency to move faster. If you grew up in Michigan, or work anywhere near the auto industry, it had that "yeah, let's go" energy to it.
📺 Worth a watch: The GM 2021 Super Bowl commercial that helped put EV adoption into the national conversation — a fun time capsule of where this all started, and a reminder of how fast things have changed since.
EVs were the headline. And they still matter. But several years later, we know that electrification is a much bigger, and more complicated, challenge than any single product category.
Because every EV charger, heat pump, electrified system, and data center that comes online adds load to the same grid. And that grid runs through buildings that were not designed for what we are asking them to handle today.
What changed since 2020
A lot, as it turns out.
A global pandemic changed how buildings were occupied. Supply chains disrupted repair and upgrade timelines. Energy costs rose. Facility teams were asked to do more with fewer people. Artificial intelligence drove explosive demand for data centers and digital infrastructure. And electrification went from a long-term goal to an immediate planning challenge.
Today, facility teams are navigating real operational pressure:
Higher energy demand from new equipment and EV charging
Aging building systems that were not designed for current load
Rising utility costs and tighter sustainability reporting requirements
Limited maintenance staff managing complex building automation systems
Growing expectations around carbon reduction and grid readiness
The challenge is no longer just setting a net-zero goal. The challenge is knowing what to fix first.
Buildings are at the center of the net-zero challenge
Commercial buildings account for a significant share of the electricity consumed in the United States. That makes building performance one of the most important, and often overlooked, levers in any serious energy or emissions strategy.
The problem is that many buildings are quietly wasting energy every day without anyone realizing it. Not because of one dramatic failure, but because of dozens of small, hidden issues running in the background:
Equipment running when spaces are unoccupied
Simultaneous heating and cooling fighting each other
Economizers not functioning correctly
Air handlers running longer than needed
Sensors that have failed and never been flagged
Override conditions set months ago and never reset
These issues do not shut a building down. They just quietly drive up energy costs, increase emissions, and accelerate equipment wear, every single day.
Efficiency before electrification
This is the part of the net-zero conversation that does not always get enough attention.
If a facility electrifies inefficient operations, it may simply shift waste from one energy source to another. Adding a heat pump to a building with a broken economizer and a poorly scheduled air handler does not fix the underlying problem. It just changes the fuel type.
Real progress toward net zero starts with operational visibility. That means understanding how a building's systems are actually performing before making major investments in new infrastructure.
That is exactly where Resolute Building Intelligence helps.
Resolute connects to your existing building automation system and transforms BAS data into clear, actionable insights. By combining analytics, fault detection, and engineering expertise, Resolute helps facility teams understand what is really happening across their buildings, identify root causes faster, and prioritize the actions that improve comfort, reduce energy waste, protect critical assets, and prevent small issues from becoming expensive problems.
What building intelligence actually finds
For most commercial and institutional buildings, the data is already there. Building automation systems collect an enormous amount of useful information every day. The challenge is that raw BAS data is difficult to interpret at scale — especially for teams managing multiple buildings with limited staff.
Resolute's building analytics platform helps identify issues like:
Simultaneous heating and cooling
Excessive equipment runtime
Poor or outdated scheduling
Economizer faults
Control sequence problems
Equipment performance drift over time
Hidden energy waste across a building or portfolio
Once issues are found, Resolute's Action Center helps teams turn those insights into results, creating tasks, setting priorities, estimating cost savings, and tracking progress so nothing gets lost. These findings move teams from broad sustainability goals to specific, prioritized action.
The real call to action
Eric Larson, who led Princeton's exhaustive analysis on the path to net-zero emissions, put it simply: "In terms of the pace of change, it's unprecedented. We need to start now."
He is right. But starting now does not mean adding more load to systems that are already struggling. It means understanding what those systems are doing, and fixing what needs to be fixed, before the next big investment.
So yes. Let's go faster.
But let's go smarter first.
Before you add more electric load, find out what your building is already telling you. Resolute connects to your BAS and surfaces what's wasting energy right now.
Frequently asked questions
What does net zero mean for commercial buildings?
Net zero means reducing a building's greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible, then balancing any remaining emissions through cleaner energy sources or offsets. For most facilities, this involves improving energy efficiency, electrifying systems, and eliminating avoidable waste before investing in larger infrastructure changes.
Why does building performance matter for net-zero goals?
Because inefficient buildings waste energy continuously. Faults, poor schedules, and systems working against each other can significantly increase energy use and emissions, often without anyone noticing. Addressing these issues first makes electrification investments far more effective.
How can building analytics support electrification planning?
Building analytics gives facility teams a clear picture of how their systems are currently performing before new electric loads are added. This surfaces hidden problems that could undermine the value of a major capital investment if left unaddressed.
Does Resolute replace a building automation system?
No. Resolute connects to your existing BAS, including Tridium Niagara, FIN Framework, Desigo CC, Alerton, and KMC Commander, and turns that raw data into clear operational insights. It works alongside the systems you already have.
What kinds of issues does Resolute identify?
Resolute's patented fault detection and diagnostics finds excessive runtime, simultaneous heating and cooling, economizer failures, sensor faults, scheduling problems, and other hidden inefficiencies — the kinds of issues that quietly increase energy costs and emissions every day. Learn more about the full software platform.
Who uses Resolute Building Intelligence?
Resolute works with facility teams across healthcare, higher education, commercial real estate, and hospitality, including organizations like Henry Ford Health, Wayne State University, Marriott, and Chicago Public Schools. See case studies
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