Long-term goals and promises are great, but results are what matter. As owners, lenders, and regulators converge on higher expectations for sustainable buildings, credible data is no longer negotiable. Heading into 2026, make sure every claim is backed by numbers you can show. 

Designers and facility managers sit at this crossroads of these tighter efficiency standards, embodied carbon accounting, and new disclosure rules. They are the ones who must build and run the data systems. Here are five priorities that will define high-performing, sustainable building design in 2026, and how to design, operate, and verify them. 

Across every one of these priorities, the through-line is data integration. Whether you’re tracking ventilation for IAQ, metering load profiles for electrification, or collecting emissions data for reporting, the buildings that perform best in 2026 will be the ones that treat data as infrastructure—not an afterthought. 

#1: Electrification and Load Flexibility 

Electrification is becoming a baseline requirement. The why is simple. 

First, it allows buildings to be fully reliant on electricity, which can be sourced from low-carbon sources like renewables. With retail energy costs steadily rising, renewable energy provides a cheaper option that also reduces greenhouse gas emissions.  

Second, grid-interactive buildings that can shift, shed, or shape loads cut operating costs and support grid reliability. The Department of Energy estimates that demand flexibility could unlock $100–200 billion in U.S. power-system savings over the next two decades, with meaningful CO2 cuts by 2030.  

Design Focus: Plan electrical rooms and feeders for higher electric demand and design for distributed resources and flexibility from day one. Pair solar with storage where feasible. Line up funding early by checking incentives through the national DSIRE database and your local utility programs. 

Facility Managers: Upgrade controls with a building management system (BMS) to track energy use in real time, trim peak demand, and automate demand response without sacrificing comfort. Ensure metering is by end use and regularly review energy data to implement efficiency improvements. 

If you want a quick starting point, our Energy Audit services provide a baseline to begin tracking your data and targeting opportunities for savings. From there, our engineering team can help you design and implement electrification upgrades. 

#2: Indoor Environmental Quality You Can Measure 

Healthy space is no longer a checkbox. It’s a measurable standard that is playing a growing role in sustainable building design. For example, ASHRAE 62.1 includes minimum ventilation requirements and indoor air quality (IAQ) requirements for engineers. With the right controls, performance can be tracked. 

On top of this, the business case for IAQ is strong. The International Well Building Institute (IWBI) recently released a comprehensive report examining these benefits. Among the findings, IWBI highlighted that healthy buildings generate a net present value (NPV) of $21,172 per employee. 

Design Focus: Use standards such as ASHRAE or WELL as a guide for your building design. Then include early-stage design choices, such as low-VOC materials and daylighting, right off the bat.  

Facility Managers: Develop and implement a sustainable facility maintenance plan to ensure your building remains operating at peak efficiency. 

If you’re new to the process or need an extra hand, we can help. We guide teams through WELL and other green building certifications from day one. That means setting IAQ targets at the design stage, aligning specs and submittals, and developing a post-occupancy verification plan to document compliance and performance.  

#3: Decarbonization Meets Data 

Reporting rules are expanding, and they expect auditable building data. While the EU is leading the charge with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the U.S. is catching up. California’s SB 253 requires large companies doing business in the state to disclose greenhouse gas emissions—and GHG reporting will only grow from there. If past trends continue, we can expect other states to follow California’s lead.  

Design Focus: Include meters and BMS systems that track the relevant data for emissions reporting. This ranges from direct building energy use to employee transportation.  

Facility Managers: Consolidate utility, BMS, and on-site generation data into a single system. This data is the cornerstone of auditable GHG reporting. 

We start by building a sustainability roadmap that sets the right metrics, closes data gaps, and sequences improvements. Then we prepare disclosures aligned with your carbon reporting standard. If you sell to large buyers, we also help you meet EcoVadis requirements or report to CDP to stand out from your peers. 

#4: Adaptive Reuse and Smart Retrofits 

Rising construction costs and limits on embodied carbon are making adaptive reuse the smarter, greener path forward. Material costs remain volatile, while regulations are tightening embodied-carbon rules through programs like the federal Buy Clean/IRA low-embodied-carbon requirements and California’s Buy Clean California Act. Reuse also cuts the impact now. A recent study found that building reuse typically delivers 4% to 46% in environmental savings compared with comparable new construction. For owners balancing budgets and climate goals, that combination is hard to ignore. 

Design Focus: Start with a reuse-and-retrofit scenario first. For example, model envelope upgrades, heat-pump additions, and advanced lighting, then compare carbon and lifecycle cost to a teardown option.  

Facility Managers: Establish a clean pre-retrofit baseline so each project stage can be verified. Track comfort and complaints along with energy and emissions so you can show that retrofits improved both. When making upgrades, it’s important to stage the work to minimize disruption to tenants. 

Begin with an Energy Audit and feasibility modeling that includes embodied-carbon screening to compare retrofit options. We translate results into a sequenced capital plan with our engineering team, integrate embodied-carbon analysis directly into the modeling outputs, and set up measurement and verification.  

#5: Resilience and Reliability Planning 

Weather risk is now a design requirement. In just 2024, the U.S. experienced 27 billion-dollar weather events, causing $182 billion in damages, and this trend has been steadily increasing.

As a result, insurance premiums are rising nationwide. For example, Florida has seen rates increase by more than 100% over the last 3 years, and insurers are leaving California due to wildfire risk. Weather-resilient features are redefining building performance and expectations. Plus, they can help secure lower insurance premiums in many parts of the country.  

Design Focus: Plan for passive survivability first, so spaces stay safe without power. Add on-site renewables and right-sized battery storage to cover critical needs and give the building a clear way to prioritize what stays on during an event. 

Facility Managers: Build in redundancy, keep a tight maintenance schedule for backup equipment, and monitor key systems in real time so minor issues don’t become emergencies. Run brief drills a few times a year and update the checklist after each season. 

We use building energy modeling for new builds and energy audits for existing buildings to identify your weak points. From there we can recommend practical upgrades, design enhancements and operating steps to move the needle. If you need a starting brief for leadership, we pull it together with costs, benefits, and a simple action plan you can execute. 

Quick Summary: The 5 Priorities for 2026 

• Electrification & load flexibility: Design for higher electric demand and load-shifting capacity. 
• Indoor environmental quality: Measurable IAQ tied to WELL, ASHRAE, and real-time monitoring. 
• Decarbonization & GHG reporting: Auditable, integrated data streams that feed disclosures. 
• Adaptive reuse & smart retrofits: Retrofit-first planning supported by embodied-carbon modeling. 
• Resilience & reliability: Passive survivability, renewables, and operational readiness. 

Design for What’s Next 

The buildings that will stand out in 2026 aren’t just efficient—they’re verified, resilient, and designed with data from the ground up. When electrification cuts operating costs, IAQ builds trust, carbon tracking protects compliance, reuse minimizes embodied impact, and resilience keeps operations running, you’re not just meeting standards—you’re leading them.

If you want a partner who can help your team design, model, document, and verify every step of that performance, Emerald Built Environments, A Crete United Company, is here to help. From concept through post-occupancy, we translate goals into clear metrics and measurable results. 

Ready to build a high-performing 2026 plan? Click below to connect with our team.