AI has big potential to cut the emissions of buildings, but it is only as good as the data it learns from. Only 10% to 15% of buildings have the equipment or systems in place to gather the data needed to support AI, said Thomas Kiessling, chief technology officer of Siemens Smart Infrastructure. “AI in buildings works if you have the data,” he said. “Bad data means you can’t do any kind of schedules, rules or more sophisticated use cases around artificial intelligence. You have to have the data.”

Siemens uses AI to compare one building to a thousand similar buildings to predict what the energy savings could be after an upgrade to a smart-energy management system.

“Even if you just know the address of that commercial building, and maybe you have the energy bill, and maybe you have some high level information of what kind of HVAC brand the building uses, that is these days enough to compile a profile of the building with respect to what is likely you could reap,” Kiessling said.

Otherwise, lower-cost sensors, such as for lighting and cooling, can help save energy for companies that don’t have a sophisticated management system.