Success factors and barriers for facility management in keeping nearly-zero-energy non-residential buildings energy-efficient over time

Energy efficiency is a cornerstone of climate change mitigation. For buildings, facility management is an essential part of achieving efficient energy use while keeping tenants satisfied. This interview study explores success factors and barriers for facility management in maintaining energy efficiency over time in four approximately 10-year-old non-residential premises built as so-called nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB) in Sweden. The study highlights the importance of functional digital tools, benchmarks, and building professionals’ involvement in ensuring energy efficiency. It also emphasizes the need for involvement communication and strategies to engage facility management in energy efficiency efforts. The study suggests that in-house and public policies can play a crucial role in sustaining high ambitions for energy efficiency. Access to professional support that is self-evident to use is identified as a critical success factor. Additionally, the research presents an analytic model that can be used in future studies to assess facility management organizations’ potential for maintaining energy performance in buildings over time.