Could smart buildings become energy suppliers?

New artificial intelligence technology could make buildings smart enough to become their own energy supplier – and even sell back what they don't use. That's the view of Vijay Natarajan, co-founder and marketing director of AI-powered energy analytics business Qbots, which is based at Manchester Science Park. "We enable buildings to actively participate in the energy markets, rather than just passively receive energy bills," Natarajan explained. This way of looking at energy bills is still relatively new. Most buildings purchase electricity from a supplier, which Natarajan says costs twice as much as the energy itself.