Boosting building energy efficiency has become a trend that won’t be going away soon — and it is a trend worth embracing by HVAC contractors. Here are several reasons why the focus on energy efficiency is not going to go away.

The Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) announced the recipients of its inaugural Building Intelligence Quotient (BiQ) Awards. The annual awards program has been developed to recognize property owners and operators whose buildings achieve the highest rank using CABA’s building technology assessment tool.

The National Environmental Balancing Bureau (NEBB) recently released its Procedural Standards for Building Envelope Testing standards.

The Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC) recently invited stakeholders to comment on proposed changes to the 2010 National Building Code (NBC). Even though the review period has concluded, industry members may wish to note proposed changes include a requirement for venting that outlines minimum separation distances to vent products of combustion.

The Venergy Advanced Metering System provides complete energy monitoring for all electric and nonelectric load types including lighting, HVAC, plug loads, photovoltaic, water, and gas, among others.

A web-based energy management dashboard, the EC-NetAX EnerVue, provides visualization of vital building metrics through an easy-to-use, browser-based dashboard application. The dashboard allows users to quickly identify issues and take action.

The market for commercial building automation systems is forecast to double over the next decade, increasing from $72.5 billion in 2011 to $146.4 billion by 2021, according to a new report from Pike Research.

Carrier has announced the lineup of speakers for its 11th Global Engineering Conference — called “20/20 the Future in Focus: Rethink. Restore. Regenerate.” — which is scheduled for March 18-20, 2012, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that nearly half of the organizations recognized as Energy Star Leaders have improved the energy efficiency of their building portfolios by 20 percent or more.

The Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE) announced 37 industry partners who are participating in its Building Technology Showcase, what the organization says is a first-of-its-kind research and demonstration building for sustainable technologies in the city of Boston’s Innovation District.