Commercial buildings account for almost a third of global energy consumption, according to the International Energy Agency.

It’s why more sustainable, healthier buildings are needed.

Designing buildings with sustainability goals in mind doesn’t mean you have to choose between energy efficiency and providing a seamless experience for your employees and visitors – and our global headquarters is one example of that sentiment.

Honeywell’s headquarters facility at Legacy Union in Charlotte opened to employees in 2021. Home to our corporate team members, including human resources, IT, marketing and legal and our Safety and Productivity Solutions business, the building was designed with our company’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality across our operations and facilities by 2035 in mind. Central to the building is also that it incorporates Honeywell-built solutions in building controls, fire and life safety, security, energy and indoor air quality technologies.

The US Green Building Council recently awarded our headquarters the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, the most widely used green building rating system in the world and a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership.

In its report on the Honeywell headquarters, the US Green Building Council cited the building’s optimization of energy performance, including advanced energy metering and lighting power reduction as well as its indoor environmental quality, including enhanced indoor air quality strategies, low-emitting construction materials, interior lighting and effective use of daylight; and its use of innovative technologies.

The council also recognized the building for its water use reduction, sourcing of raw materials, material ingredients (criteria meant to encourage the use of products and materials that have environmentally, economically and socially preferable qualities, according to the US Green Building Council) and construction waste management.

Here’s a closer look at some of the Honeywell components at work in our headquarters that helped the building earn high marks by the US Green Building Council.

Industrial-grade software

The ability to track and manage the building’s energy usage is made possible through the Carbon and Energy Management software, part of our set of ready-now sustainable building solutions. Utilizing Honeywell Forge technology, sensors, smart meters and utility data, the cloud-based system gives facilities leaders access to a dashboard that breaks down real-time data on energy usage and costs, CO2 usage, building health and Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions.

Additionally, the building benefits from predictive maintenance software powered by Honeywell Forge, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict early and proactive actions to avoid unnecessary changes, as well as reduce the amount of unplanned, reactive work on building systems.

Indoor air quality solutions

Several factors can contribute to indoor air quality, including carbon dioxide, temperature, humidity, total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) – a wide range of organic chemical compounds – and particulate matter in the air.

Indoor air quality is a top concern for building occupants today, according to Honeywell’s 2022 survey with Wakefield Research that included 3,000 office workers in buildings of 500 or more people in Germany, India, Middle East, United Kingdom, United States and Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Air quality technologies, such as sensors and filtration systems – many of which are used at the Honeywell headquarters – are designed to detect and remove pathogens, bacteria and other harmful materials from the building’s air and can play an important role in creating a healthy indoor environment.

Innovative technologies

Designed to exemplify the office of the future, the Honeywell headquarters makes use of innovations from simplified visitor management powered by software that enables a safer and more secure building, to technology that monitors building capacity and body temperature.

Learn more about the future of healthy buildings and read this article for a closer look inside the Honeywell headquarters.