From electrification to commissioning, several trends and aspects of engineering are worth watching this year.
2026 trends and insights
- Like many technical media outlets, we track trends closely and distill them so readers can focus on the most consequential developments, including electrification alongside decarbonization, growing pressure on the electrical grid and rising expectations around indoor environmental quality.
- Looking ahead, trends such as advanced building commissioning, integrated and smart building systems and data-driven measurement and verification will continue to shape how owners pursue efficiency, resilience and long-term performance.
Like many other technical media outlets, we track trends carefully and filter them so that you can focus on the most important ones. Here are the key items I plan to watch in 2026:
Decarbonization was the buzzword a few years ago, and now electrification joins it. While electrification does not guarantee decarbonization, both topics are at the core for both mechanical and electrical engineers. Building owners want facilities that use low- and zero-carbon energy sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
There are, of course, challenges. When the source of electricity comes from decarbonized sources, such as solar or wind power, pressure on the electrical grid is reduced. A great deal of attention continues to be paid to the electrical grid to ensure it remains both resilient and able to serve its customers.
Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) encompasses indoor air quality (IAQ), acoustics, lighting and energy use within a facility. Measuring IAQ may be a common practice; measuring occupant health and productivity can be harder. While this might seem rudimentary to a commissioning professional or an energy-efficiency expert, gathering and reporting all the data can be a massive project. Measurement and verification are not new, however, and this โtrendโ of reporting IEQ for buildings will only continue to grow.
Building commissioning is steadily expanding for newer buildings and for facilities trying to achieve various energy goals. More advanced commissioning includes artificial intelligence and smart sensor-driven data collection to monitor in real time and predict potential problems or failures. With net-zero or passive buildings, owners want to know when additional power should be drawn from renewable energy sources, for example. Commissioning not only helps prepare a building for successful occupancy, it can also provide long-term effectiveness and efficiency.
Integrated building systems were covered in a research report and several pieces of content in 2025, and follow-up is already underway to pinpoint changes and trends. Integrated systems can help with several of the above topics, but without buy-in from the building owner and a solid understanding by the consultant, full integration cannot successfully move forward. Stitching together entire subsystems can be complex, and conveying their value to building owners requires finesse and deep knowledge. This can overlap with smart buildings, another trend to watch as our ability to mine data expands.
