The Butlr Team
The Butlr Team
DAte
May 12, 2025
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Sustainability as a Compass: Rethinking Energy Optimization for Business
A few years ago, ESG was everywhere. Sustainability goals were baked into every pitch deck, every board meeting, every client conversation. At Butlr, we often framed ESG not as a rulebook, but as a compass instead; an orientation point guiding decisions toward smarter, more responsible ways of building and operating. For a while, that compass felt widely shared.
Lately, though, we’ve seen a growing backlash. ESG has been criticized as a burden, an external mandate that distracts from core business goals. But as Christy Martell rightly points out, this backlash isn’t a rejection of sustainable design itself. It’s rather a reaction to superficiality. To checklists. To empty claims.
And yet the urgency remains. Buildings still account for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions. Every day we feel the effects of climate change, whether through rising temperatures, shifting energy costs, or extreme weather events. Smart buildings and smarter operations are not just good ideas. They are necessary.
From construction to demolition, buildings are riddled with inefficiencies. Materials are often sourced from faraway regions, shipped at high energy costs, and installed without long-term reusability in mind. Day-to-day operations add another layer of waste. Lights stay on in empty rooms. HVAC systems cool or heat spaces without regard to occupancy. Offices are cleaned on fixed schedules, not based on actual usage. This is where smart cleaning and energy optimization make a difference—not just for sustainability, but for efficiency and cost.
We often forget that buildings have lifecycles. We treat them as permanent, but they age. They evolve. They’re decommissioned. Yet even in the end, demolition rarely includes recycling or repurposing materials. So the problem of sustainability is not just a problem of design—it’s a problem of operations.
At Butlr, we believe in using spatial intelligence to optimize operations in real-time. Our sensors allow businesses to adapt HVAC systems, lighting, and cleaning schedules based on how people actually use a space. That’s not just a win for the planet. It’s a massive win for the bottom line.
There’s a persistent myth that sustainability is expensive. In reality, the opposite is often true. Local materials cost less to transport. Retrofitting is cheaper than rebuilding. Optimizing systems based on use and not assumptions saves energy and resources. Every wasted kilowatt or cleaning cycle carries a dollar sign. Smart buildings are more efficient buildings. Full stop.
But this only works if we stop treating sustainability as a map; a rigid plan with static checkpoints, but instead start seeing it as a compass. ESG, at its best, was never about ticking boxes. It was about setting direction. And today, as businesses navigate volatile energy costs and growing climate risks, that compass is more relevant than ever.
Sustainability is, first and foremost, an ethical imperative. But it is also a strategic one. Energy optimization, HVAC optimization, and smart operations aren’t future ambitions but immediate advantages. They make buildings more responsive, more resilient, and more affordable to run. In a moment of backlash, doubling down on thoughtful, data-driven sustainability can be a differentiator.
We’ve found that critical conversations about ESG are still very productive. They challenge us to be more intentional. To build not just for compliance, but for impact. And that’s exactly how we approach things at Butlr. Our values guide us, but our technologies prove their worth. Every product decision we make is anchored in two questions: Does this help reduce waste? and Does this create value from day one?
Smart buildings aren’t just sustainable. They’re better for business. They optimize resources, improve working conditions, and lower costs.
It’s time to move beyond the checkbox and get back to the compass.
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