Avoiding Carbon Emissions with Energy-Efficient Climate Control

Skanska, a leading global construction and development company is committed to achieving Net Zero carbon emissions and climate neutrality by 2045. Having already reduced operational carbon emissions by 61% between 2015 and 2025, the company is targeting deeper, incremental reductions across its projects.

Temporary climate control is critical for quality assurance and schedule certainty for its projects, especially in critical regions where temperature and humidity fluctuations affect finishes and moisture-sensitive materials.

Skanska’s team partnered with Polygon to test IoT-enabled monitoring and control technology aimed at reducing the energy footprint of climate control equipment during construction.

CHALLENGE

Traditional methods of managing climate and controlling moisture on construction sites include running high-power equipment and using antiquated methods of climate data collection. Polygon’s technical solution offers a more advanced approach where sensor data can inform equipment to turn on and off based on real-time conditions running only when necessary. National Carbon Manager, Mark Chen, and Senior Sustainability Director, Tolga Tutar, recognized the potential energy savings and carbon emission avoidance that could be delivered at scale but needed demonstrated results to drive adoption. They worked with Brian Carter’s project team in Texas to showcase Polygon’s potential benefits on a medical education building project.

“Quality control is a principal benefit of temporary climate control. We have multitudes of materials and finishes in a building all with different ranges of required humidity and temperature at installation,” Chen points out. “That is why we use it so much on our mass timber projects. But if we can save energy and electricity without a lot of cost that is a superior solution project teams could use on any project.”

SOLUTION

In February 2025, the Skanska project team was closing up the 248,000 square foot medical education building and preparing the space for interior finishes. Polygon’s dehumidification equipment and sensors were already onsite managing interior temperatures and humidity.

Project Executive, Brian Carter explained, “Moisture conditions with concrete structural slabs are a constant here in Texas, sometimes affecting 75% of the building slabs. That’s why it’s critical to condition the building as early as possible so we can mitigate any moisture issues before the installation of finishes, specifically flooring. The Polygon system helps us reduce moisture in the building, control humidity and temperature, protect finishes and keep the project on schedule.”

To quantify energy consumption levels under a normal scenario, Polygon installed a power monitor on one of the desiccant dehumidifiers. It ran nearly 24/7 for 49 days. Then in March, Polygon added a smart controller allowing it to automatically turn on and off according to the project team’s target specs. It modulated for 64 days. The power levels were observed in a live dashboard and then later exported for further analysis.

RESULTS

The kilowatt-hour trend before and after controls were installed are visualized in the chart below. It is important to note that the results are for one desiccant dehumidifier and not the entire climate control system. Daily energy consumption for the unit is represented by blue bars

Energy Impact

• 70% reduction in average daily energy use, or
• 60% reduction in total energy consumption
• A total of 99,168 kWh was saved. The first 49 days drew a total of 164,273 kWh and then reduced to 65,105 kWh in the 64 days during modulation.

Cost Savings

• 70% reduction in daily energy cost, or
• $191 average daily energy cost for Local TX rate or $350 daily for National Average Rate.
• A total of $8,131 was saved.

Carbon Emissions Avoidance

• 70% reduction in daily CO₂ emissions, or
• 0.82 average Metric Tons of CO₂ avoided each day
• A total of 76507.9 lbs of CO₂ was avoided. Equivalent to:
  • Powering 6 homes for a year
  • Offsetting 8,400 gallons of gasoline
  • Sequestering 1,970 urban trees (10 years old)

"While climate control is a small fraction of the construction process, sensors and control systems like Polygon's will be more and more important as we work towards the next phase of our NetZero strategy. This is a small-scale demo in one project, but if you multiply the savings in cost, and reductions in energy use and carbon emissions, it becomes significant in the portfolio across the company and it positively contributes to our climate goals." Tolga Tutar

BENEFITS

Project Value-Add: The Polygon solution adds more value to the project beyond the expected quality assurance and schedule certainty.  It offers cost savings to the project or end-client in the form of deep energy reduction.

Carbon Avoidance: IoT-enabled controls can help avoid carbon emissions and support sustainability goals especially when scaled to other projects

Behavioral Change: Data-driven results build confidence in sustainable practices and accelerate adoption in the field

For more information on Polygon monitoring and climate control solutions visit, http://www.polygongroup.us.

For details on Skanska’s sustainability initiatives, explore their Annual and Sustainability Report 2025 here.

Sources: Electric Rates from ElectricityLocal.com. Emissions factor varies by power source. Emission factors provided by EPA Power Profiler: https://www.epa.gov/egrid/power-profiler#/ERCT. Offsets were calculated using data from https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator-calculations-and-references