The new development of artificial intelligence (AI) has encouraged technology companies to launch subsidiaries focused on optimizing energy operations to make commercial and residential buildings more sustainable.
Trane Technologies launched the Montreal-based Brainbox AI Lab and found solutions that reduce energy consumption by analyzing data from heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to understand and predict how a building will work throughout the day.
“It's like a movie Return to the future“Brainbox AI president and founder Jean-Simon Venne told BNN Bloomberg in an interview Wednesday, and that's how we use AI.”
AI predicts building temperature and energy usage, allowing real-time optimization to reduce energy consumption. AI systems act as virtual engineers and increase productivity by predicting and solving equipment problems before they occur.
“What we're doing is getting that data and using AI capabilities to predict what's going on in the building in the next few hours,” Venne said. “If you have this prediction, you know exactly how much energy you will spend when it's a little too hot, a little too cold, and maintaining the desired temperature inside the building. That prediction will be used to optimize the building in real time.
An interdisciplinary team of technical experts, including software engineers, data scientists, AI researchers, machine learning developers, and AI engineers will continue to advance autonomous control systems, predictive models, and algorithms aimed at reducing emissions through smarter energy use.
For example, rooms and studios can get hot from the heat from the sunlight shining through the window, such as cameras and laundry machines that last for long periods of peak times. AI can collect data from everyday scenarios when the room is too hot by lowering energy consumption, finding efficiency to keep the room cool in the future in the future. This helps reduce the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) generated from buildings.
“When you're trying to save on emissions, you basically want to save on that kilowatts, or the amount of kilowatts or meters of gas you're consuming at any time,” Bennu said. “Want to know how kilowatts are manufactured? Are kilowatts coming from windmills and coal power plants currently consumed in buildings? That information is calculated using AI.
“Of course, AI makes sure that your electronics and kilowatts are stored at a time when they're not that green, as if they were dirty rather than green. Kilowatts optimize the money that costs you by shaving.
According to the Canadian Environment and Natural Resources report, Canada has over 15 million home constructions and over 480,000 commercial and facility buildings, including offices, retail and warehouses. Canadian homes and buildings account for 13% of GHG emissions due to the burning of fossil fuels for space and water heating.
Cooling, lighting and electrical power usage brings the total to 18%. The building sector includes a variety of companies, many of which are small and medium-sized enterprises, including home and building construction, manufacturing of highly efficient equipment and appliances, sales and installation, and managing energy use.
