When city approval of a proposed $350 million skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles was on the line, project manager Hamid Behdad knew he had to give in to the last-minute demand of a planning commissioner to quadruple the number of electric vehicle charging stations in the condominium tower. "When you are in the heat of the hearing in the last leg of the proposal, you aren't going to say no," Behdad said, even though he thought the requirement was overkill. Today, with the Perla on Broadway complete and angling for buyers, Behdad said he is "extremely glad that commissioner forced us" to install chargers on 20% of the building's parking stalls. "If we didn't have these 90 chargers, we would be in real trouble selling units," he said. Landlords of apartments, hotels, office buildings and other commercial properties are rushing to avoid similar trouble.

Environmental problems become more urgent and affect the lives of people, marine life, and various animal species. Only in 2022, forest fires in Spain, France, and many other countries worldwide led to the destruction of animals' natural habitats, a decrease in the number of air producers, and many harmful outcomes for local residents. Although it is hard to say if humanity can still stop global warming and other environmental issues, there are some ways to restrain their development, and the utilization of renewable energy sources is among them. In this article, we list the best and most innovative renewable energy companies to keep on your radar this year. Moreover, if you are seeking more information on how modern technology can help us prevent global environmental catastrophes, read these AITJ articles: 5 Ways AI Can Improve Environmental Sustainability and How AI Helps Clean Oceans from Plastics.

Increasing amounts of distributed generation in distribution networks can provide both challenges and opportunities for voltage regulation across the network. Intelligent control of smart inverters and other smart building energy management systems can be leveraged to alleviate these issues. GridLearn is a multiagent reinforcement learning platform that incorporates both building energy models and power flow models to achieve grid level goals, by controlling behind-the-meter resources. This study demonstrates how multi-agent reinforcement learning can preserve building owner privacy and comfort while pursuing grid-level objectives. Building upon the CityLearn framework which considers RL for building-level goals, this work expands the framework to a network setting where grid-level goals are additionally considered. As a case study, we consider voltage regulation on the IEEE-33 bus network using controllable building loads, energy storage, and smart inverters. The results show that the RL agents nominally reduce instances of undervoltages and reduce instances of overvoltages by 34%.

Getting machine learning and artificial intelligence to work for construction is often a matter of finding where it would be most useful. AI algorithms can scan through terabytes of data, looking for small inconsistencies or hidden patterns that a human might not notice at first. Now, engineers at Thornton Tomasetti have applied that considerable processing power to the tricky work of building-facade inspections. After two years of development in Thornton Tomasetti's CORE lab, the result is T2D2, a computer-vision, machine-learning algorithm that can identify damage to building exteriors in photos or video. Not intended to replace the difficult work of facade inspections, T2D2 is instead seen as tool to find hidden damage that might go unnoticed, and speed along a tedious, difficult process.

The AI engine supports a self-operating building that requires no human intervention. What inspired you to launch BrainBox AI? My journey into HVAC technology began while working on energy efficiency projects throughout North America and Europe. During this stage of my life, I dealt with the technology in a plethora of buildings. These were buildings of different sizes and purpose, anything from hotels all the way to data centers. It quickly became apparent to me that continuous commissioning approaches would generate consistent energy savings but would require extensive amounts of both financial and human capital.

Artificial intelligence is playing a critical role in integrating next generation technologies and automating networks - and smart buildings represent one of the most exciting elements of that, allowing workspaces to become more efficient, agile and productive. We are undoubtedly in the midst of a fascinating period of connected innovation with huge possibilities. Such sweeping AI developments are serving to significantly increase the use of telecom networks, with the advent of 5G expected to lend them further momentum in the coming years. However, with the digital connectivity of commercial premises now among the key considerations for any tenant or prospective occupier, smart buildings are at the very heart of the revolution. By overlaying an IT network, connecting all traditionally unconnected equipment, and applying automated analytics and controls, building owners and managers can significantly reduce energy waste and cut costs.

Two big movements are emerging for building owners. The first is that owners are beginning to leverage technology to help streamline many of the outdated processes that currently exist today, ultimately helping to centralize decisionmaking for the business. Second, there is a major trend where real estate investors recognize the value of the IoT (Internet of Things) for tenants--and look to technology to give an enhanced experience, according to Logan Soya, founder and CEO, Aquicore, which provides a platform that allows owners and operators to run a portfolio with data-driven insights. The big challenge here is that sensor-enabled technology sounds very familiar to things that have been promised to owners in the past. For instance, Soya says the concept of a traditional alert from an HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system is actually pretty dumb, but alerts that are built on AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning can provide more value for the long term.

With artificial intelligence integrated into building systems and IoT devices, buildings become more than their brick-and-mortar shells. They begin to operate in new ways, creating personalized experiences for their occupants, and providing energy and cost savings for their owners. In the report'Building intelligence into buildings', the Institute of Business Value (IBV) explores the potential of buildings that think for themselves. Below are some of the key learnings and action points. What if buildings owners could see exactly how their building is being used at any given time?

Editor's Note: This piece was written by Casey Talon, a principal research analyst contributing to Navigant Research's Building Innovations program. The opinions represented in this piece are independent of Smart Cities Dive's views. Artificial intelligence (AI) is technology that learns. This concept encompasses machines that take in continuous data and adapt for perpetual evolution from the objective they were designed to achieve. Today, AI has captured mindshare and headlines, claiming market disruption across industries ranging from trucking to shopping.

BuildingIQ, a provider of energy management software headquartered in California, provides tools to commercial building owners and managers to improve the energy efficiency of their building operations. BuildingIQ offers solutions that use technology originally developed by the Energy Division of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia's national lab. The average commercial building wastes 30% of the energy it uses. Even simple changes, such as adjusting temperature settings and ensuring that lights are not on when no one is around, can produce substantial savings. BuildingIQ has responded by developing an energy management system driven by artificial intelligence (AI) that optimizes HVAC systems for maximum efficiency.