The Smart Buildings Alliance (SBA) proposes its white paper “Artificial Intelligence for Smart & Green Buildings”. The 85-member Artificial Intelligence Commission of the SBA has mobilized to clarify what AIe is and how this technology can improve the performance of buildings and cities.

Created in 2012, the SBA association aims to support all the players in the building and urban sectors in their digital transition, combined with the environmental transition at the service of all users. The SBA’s ultimate objective is to rethink the development of buildings, the territory and the city by integrating the digital dimension as well as possible. Today, it represents all the building and urban-related trades that it federates in the reflection and collaborative construction of innovative approaches and solutions for residential housing, intelligent and sustainable buildings and territories. It is organized around 3 pillars that structure its action: Smart Home, Smart Building, Smart City.

Artificial intelligence is now being used “to help us limit our environmental impact, optimize our activities, work spaces and mobility, and improve our health and safety,” says Sébastien Meunier, President of the IA Commission and Vice President Smart Building of the SBA.

Definitions and received ideas

The white paper “Artificial Intelligence for Smart & Green Buildings” is the result of 18 months of work. A very complete and well-documented book with many use cases to consult, to better understand AI and its benefits in the real estate sector.

The first part of the White Paper is devoted to the lighting and explanations that are indispensable today, at a time when artificial intelligence is no longer an option in the building industry, but a reality that is increasingly present. In 2020, 20 times more digital data were produced than in 2010.

“The Commission has endeavoured to simplify the concepts necessary for a better understanding of this technical, complex but eminently fascinating subject. It is also breaking down some preconceived ideas, such as the idea that AI would endow computers with reason or that it would eventually replace humans,” confides Sébastien Meunier.

A profound change towards Smart & Green buildings

The second part of the book includes use cases exploiting digital data and artificial intelligence. The problems to be solved, the functionalities, the maturity of the technology, and the advantages are described in great detail. Here is an illustration:

• The “Energy Butler”, capable of making a residential building energy self-sufficient;
• “The Landlord”, to enrich the user experience of office buildings and hotels;
• or “The low carbon pump attendant”, who predicts the consumption of electric buses.

How to use AI in the building and the city

The third part aims to give a user manual to the building and city sector, to enable each stakeholder to serenely carry out an artificial intelligence project: which building, which equipment, which functionalities brought, which technical and organizational conditions, which architecture? Everything is clearly explained throughout the pages of this chapter, in order to accompany the players in the sector step by step in their projects so that they can reap the full benefits of AI at every stage of the life of their buildings.

Finally, the White Paper ends with a summary of key information on AI and recommendations that gives all the keys to successfully digitizing projects for Smart & Green buildings.

The objectives of this white paper are to make AI accessible to decision-makers, to demonstrate through use cases the benefits of AI, to characterize the digital infrastructures and data that support AI, and finally to give recommendations for concrete application.

Translated from Smart & Green : La SBA publie son livre blanc sur l’intelligence artificielle au service des bâtiments et de la ville