Rising energy prices and the threat of supply restrictions have presented owners and managers of commercial real estate with a new challenge: how to meaningfully cut energy consumption without compromising the comfort of customers and employees. The answer comes in the form of „Energy Conservation in Commercial Buildings,” a guidebook jointly prepared by the Polish Council of Shopping Centres and the Polish Chamber of Commercial Real Estate, with input from experts at leading companies managing shopping centres and office buildings in Poland. Here are the key recommendations from this compendium.
Why energy conservation has become an industry priority
Commercial properties in Poland — shopping centres and retail parks, office buildings, and warehouses — have long pursued lower operating costs and reduced emissions, but the sharp rise in energy prices and the risk of supply constraints have forced this work into overdrive. The guidebook’s authors stress that every building has its own characteristics, history and modernisation potential, so the document should be treated as a source of inspiration rather than a rigid checklist. The guiding principle behind every recommendation is clear: savings must never come at the expense of safety, predictability, or user comfort.
Lighting: the simplest step toward savings
The most basic and effective measure remains replacing existing light sources with energy-efficient LED fixtures, both outdoors and indoors. The guide recommends switching off illuminated tenant logos after closing time or after 10:00 pm, reducing outdoor parking lot lighting to 30-70% of capacity depending on footfall, and turning off holiday decorations between 8:00 am and 3:00 pm. Indoors, it suggests motion detectors in stairwells, DALI lighting control systems, and maximising the use of daylight through sensors installed at skylights.
In office and administrative areas, recommendations include switching off lighting in unoccupied rooms, using individual desk lamps instead of overhead lighting, and adjusting lighting to a team’s working mode — for example, turning off lights entirely on days when the whole team works remotely.
HVAC: heating, ventilation and air conditioning account for the largest share of energy use
HVAC systems consume the largest portion of a shopping centre’s energy, which is why this is where the greatest savings potential lies. Experts recommend lowering the temperature in common areas to 17-19°C in winter and raising it to a minimum of 26°C in summer. It’s also advisable to switch off HVAC systems entirely at night on selected days when weather conditions allow, and to make maximum use of heat recovery units and gravity ventilation.
More detailed recommendations include cascading the start-up of HVAC equipment from the lowest to the highest floors using inverters, switching two-speed ventilation units to first gear until noon, shutting down part of the ventilation equipment after 8:00 pm year-round, and running entrance air curtains only at extreme temperatures or on a rotating basis.
BMS and energy audits as the foundation of optimisation
Building Management Systems (BMS), long standard in office buildings, are increasingly common in shopping centres and warehouses too, though not yet the norm. Their greatest value lies in the ability to precisely analyse how existing installations perform and identify equipment that duplicates functions. The guide recommends a comprehensive energy audit covering HVAC parameter measurements, thermal imaging to detect thermal bridges, air quality testing, and an analysis of energy consumption over the past three years — including the pre-pandemic period as a benchmark.
Water: simple changes, measurable results
Heating water in commercial buildings typically generates significant energy consumption. Experts recommend lowering hot water temperature in customer toilets to 35-40°C, using low-flow fittings, and heating water outside peak demand periods, ideally right before it’s needed.
Matching power procurement to actual needs
A common mistake among commercial properties is ordering far more power capacity than actually required — the guide notes that ordering 100-200% above real demand is standard market practice. It recommends a thorough analysis of contracted electrical and thermal power based on maximum recorded values over the past 24 months, along with installing reactive power compensators.
Elevators, escalators and other equipment
The guide points to the potential for limiting the availability of some escalators during low-traffic morning hours, using creep-speed mode for escalators and travelators, and choosing equipment with energy efficiency certificates. It also recommends shortening or switching off fountains, water features and other architectural and visual installations (information kiosks, touchscreens), and replacing electric hand dryers with paper towels.
Operational organisation and tenant cooperation
The guide emphasises that some savings can be achieved with no capital investment at all — purely through organisational changes. These include alternating or half-opening entrance doors, consolidating deliveries through a single gate, and shifting ice production or equipment battery charging to hours outside opening time.
Cooperation with tenants is equally important: the guide recommends informing tenants of measures being introduced, jointly developing individual energy-saving plans, and updating lease regulations (ZPTA) to require LED lighting or dimming illuminated logos after closing.
Green solutions and photovoltaics
Among longer-term solutions, the guide lists expanding climbing greenery around buildings (such as ivy) to reduce temperatures, collecting and using rainwater, installing solar collectors for domestic hot water, and analysing the feasibility of rooftop photovoltaic panels. When designing new facilities, it recommends allocating space from the outset for photovoltaic installations, heat pumps, and systems that maintain constant CO2 levels instead of periodic air exchange.
Europe braces for winter
The guide also cites measures adopted across Europe in response to the European Commission’s call to cut energy consumption by 15% by the end of March 2023 compared to the average of the previous five years. Germany banned shops from keeping doors permanently open between September and February, France capped air conditioning at 26°C and banned illuminating shop windows at night, and Spain mandated automatic door-closing mechanisms in all air-conditioned or heated premises.
Conclusion
The PROH and PINK guidebook shows that meaningfully cutting energy use in commercial properties doesn’t have to mean sacrificing customer or employee comfort. Many of the recommended measures — from optimising HVAC schedules and intelligent lighting control to better delivery logistics and closer tenant cooperation — can be implemented quickly and at little to no cost. In the longer term, though, the biggest gains will come from investment in modern BMS systems, photovoltaics, and designing new buildings with energy efficiency built in from the start.
