AI-powered building management reduces emissions and improves efficiency

Virtual models of buildings allow for real-time machine learning and continual monitoring

Spotted: Designed for use in new buildings and for retrofitting older structures, PassiveLogic’s building management platform, Autonomy Studio, reduces energy expenditure by up to 30 per cent and monitors occupant comfort in real time. The platform is plug and play, allowing site managers, builders, and maintenance teams to provide input based on what is already in the building or the plans. The AI then evaluates what systems are in place and operates the controls for maximum efficiency.

Drawings form the basis for the digital ‘twin’ of the building that the AI uses for its management processing. System controls are housed in a small, portable box called the Hive. The size of the Hive box makes it possible to install the platform in locations much more accessible than the traditional default basement positions. Site managers thus can control systems from somewhere convenient to them and the specifics of the building they are working in.

PassiveLogic’s sensors track the location and metabolic rates of all the people in the building in order to adjust humidity, air temperature, light intensity, and more as needed. And with the virtual twin of the building, the AI constantly monitors actual, rather than estimated conditions of each system, whether it be IoT, electronics, heating, plumbing, or other equipment.

Having recently completed a Series B round of fundraising that provided the company with USD 34 million, PassiveLogic plans to continue developing its technologies and scaling provision of its solution.

A number of innovations are looking at ways to improve the health of both workspaces and workforces, with an onsite blackwater recycling system being tested in a commercial high-rise in California, and a behavioural science-based platform tracking the carbon emissions from a company’s entire value chain, including hybrid-working teams.