Artificial intelligence has made its way to the real estate industry and it’s helping cut costs and maximizing efficiency.

BrainBox AI is an autonomous building technology firm that has just launched the Real Estate Energy Savings Calculator, which the company claims can, among other things, reduce a building’s carbon footprint by 20-40%, double the service life of HVAC equipment, and spur a 60% “improvement of occupant comfort” in commercial buildings like schools, hotels, retail stores, offices, and medical facilities.

The AI technology self-adapts to optimize HVAC systems, which typically comprise 45% of commercial buildings’ energy consumption, and that in turn creates a self-operating building that forgoes human intervention. Moreover, energy costs can drop by 25%.

The platform is being touted as a giant leap for building operators towards net-zero carbon ambitions, and while these buildings do exist, realizing such lofty aspirations is notoriously difficult and expensive.

“BrainBox AI was created to help make commercial buildings considerably more energy-efficient, thereby reducing their carbon footprint and making better use of existing building infrastructures,” said Jean-Simon Venne, Brainbox AI’s co-founder and chief technology officer. “The development of the Real Estate Energy Savings Calculator is an important milestone in our mission to transform the commercial real estate industry with the implementation of advanced artificial intelligence technologies.”

According to a study by IotaComm, a commercial building’s energy consumption per square foot can be best understood by establishing profiles based on the operations housed in the complex rather than the building itself. For example, food service facilities consume about 56 kW/sq, while a retail mall averages of 23 kWh/sq. A public assembly building would only consume approximately 15 kWh/sq, and a warehouse 9 kWh/sq.

BirdBox AI is a Montreal-based company that launched four years ago and endeavours to bring about a green revolution in the commercial real estate sector, having already helped reduce carbon emissions across over 100,000 sq ft in 16 countries.