In today’s rapidly changing world, sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a strategic imperative for corporate leaders looking to drive long-term value and resilience. Companies everywhere are setting bold goals to reduce their environmental impact, but the office often gets left out of the conversation. It’s easy to miss when everything is automated - the heating and cooling is scheduled, the lights are scheduled and it is not always a top priority or consideration in the day to day of running a business. 

But what are the underpinnings of your automation? Are the lights scheduled based on actual use or set business hours? Is your heating and cooling tied to when your teams are actually in the office and in meeting rooms or based on a pre-hybrid set schedule? 

The truth is, many workplaces are burning through energy, maintenance, and money to support spaces that aren’t serving people the way they should.

Every year on Earth Day, everyone pays a little more attention to the planet and our impacts on climate change. Commitment to sustainability and reducing carbon footprints should not be limited to a once a year reflection - real change happens when sustainability becomes an integral part of how we design, measure, and manage our workspaces every day.

How much of your energy management is currently tied to your actual utilization? What occupancy data are you using to inform your maintenance and cleaning schedules?  How much of your workplace is actually being used? And how much of it is just sitting there... quietly wasting resources? Let’s go deeper:

The Hidden Waste in the Workplace

Offices consume energy, water, and resources whether they’re full or empty. That means every underused desk, meeting room, or floor is still triggering the same cleaning cycles, lighting schedules, and temperature control, without delivering value in return.

In Canada alone, commercial and institutional buildings consumed 948.2 million gigajoules (GJ) of energy in 2019, the equivalent of the annual energy use of over 10.7 million Canadian households (Natural Resources Canada, 2021).

Globally, buildings are responsible for nearly 40% of energy-related carbon emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. And according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, almost 30% of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted, largely due to outdated systems, inefficiencies, and poorly aligned occupancy strategies.

The data unequivocally shows that this waste is both real and avoidable.

So where do leadership teams start?
It starts with data.

By analyzing how people actually move through and use the office, companies can get a detailed, real-time view of what’s working - and what’s not.

With data you can uncover:

• Which areas are consistently active vs. underused
  
  
• Dwell times and traffic patterns that highlight inefficient layouts
  
  
• Trends over time that guide smarter space, energy, and resource decisions

• Hybrid and in-office working patterns to determine when people are actually in office and using workplace resources like meeting rooms

This is all about designing smarter workplaces that reflect how people actually work and use the space. 

3 Ways Space Utilization Data Drives Sustainable Impact

These sustainable wins don’t require a massive overhaul; they start with smarter data. And the best part? You don’t need to rip out ceilings or invest in complicated hardware to get started. That’s where Wi-Fi-based solutions come in.

Wi-Fi-based space utilization uses your existing infrastructure, meaning:

• No sensors to install
  
  
• No extra wiring or construction
  
  
• No added e-waste
  
  

It’s faster to implement, more cost-effective, and far less disruptive than traditional sensor-based systems. And it's the greener choice, because working with what you already have is always more sustainable than starting from scratch or having to buy/install something new. 

If your office is using energy, resources, and square footage that no one’s benefiting from, it is not only inefficient, it’s unsustainable. The data you need to make better decisions is already there, you just need to start capturing and using it!

Don’t wait until Earth Day to think about how you can make a significant impact in your energy reduction initiatives. Sustainability isn’t just about reducing our footprint, it’s about making intentional choices that benefit people and the planet.

Don’t let your office quietly work against your goals. Use comprehensive utilization data to create a space that works hard to help you meet and exceed your sustainability initiatives, every day of the year!