Can Drones & AI Drive Commercial Buildings Towards Sustainability?

The average U.S. commercial building is over 50 years old, and only the top 25% of all commercial buildings are ENERGY STAR certified. The Department of Energy estimates that roughly one-third, or more, of the energy used by buildings is wasted at an annual cost of $150 billion. Joulea, the Atlanta-based startup founded by Georgia Tech alum Ramtin Motahar, strives to modernize and redefine energy efficiency for commercial buildings through advanced technology and accurate building energy assessments.

After earning industrial engineering and economics degrees, Motahar spent several years in commercial real estate development, primarily developing and constructing office buildings. Interacting with contractors,  engineers, and architects, he recognized that buildings could be designed and built more efficiently. He asked himself, "What industry strives for perfection in their products?" His answer: aerospace. This realization led him to pursue a master's degree in aerospace engineering, a field that profoundly shaped his approach to building sustainability and energy performance optimization.

Motahar founded Joulea to address sustainability gaps in aging buildings by merging aerospace principles with building management. Through building energy expertise, AI, automation, and drone technology, Joulea comprehensively assesses building performance. This approach equips building owners with actionable insights to maximize profits, enhance return on investment, and achieve measurable energy savings and carbon footprint reduction, ultimately pushing the commercial real estate industry toward a more sustainable future. By integrating advanced tools and data-driven strategies, Joulea helps modernize buildings, making them more efficient and environmentally friendly. Joulea’s three main tools for building assessments include its Envelope Explorer, the opX Planner, and the capX Planner.

The Envelope Explorer

The building envelope is often the most overlooked aspect of a building. Yet, it is the most impactful because it is the barrier between the conditioned (indoor) and the unconditioned (outdoor) environments. This makes building envelope inspections crucial for energy efficiency and identifying areas of improvement. 

Building envelope inspections manually assess a building’s exterior for safety, durability, and energy efficiency by examining walls, windows, doors, roofs, and foundations for gaps, cracks, and leaks. However, as building size increases, these manual inspections become inaccurate, costly, and time-consuming, often resulting in partial assessments and incomplete evaluations of the building envelope.

Joulea uses industry-leading autonomous drones with high-resolution sensors like infrared, LiDAR, and digital cameras to perform comprehensive building envelope inspections. These drones capture detailed data often missed by traditional methods, detecting issues such as air leaks and insulation damage. Joulea’s AI algorithms classify defects and generate 3D models, helping building managers optimize repairs, reduce energy loss, and achieve savings.

The opX Planner

Keeping a building’s energy use efficient isn’t just about initial setup or retrofits but ongoing, vigilant management. No matter the age of the building, the HVAC, lighting, and other critical systems must be closely monitored to identify emerging issues before they escalate. With shifting conditions like weather, occupancy, and energy prices, even well-maintained systems can fall short of optimal performance if not adjusted regularly. Without continuous monitoring, unnoticed inefficiencies can increase costs and energy consumption.

Joulea’s opX Planner connects directly with your building automation system (BAS), providing dynamic, real-time equipment and energy performance oversight. By collecting and analyzing data on weather, occupancy, and energy patterns, opX can recommend precise adjustments that adapt to changing conditions. It can also achieve complete optimal control of the building automation system. When equipment anomalies or inefficiencies arise, opX flags them immediately, helping building managers maintain peak performance without unforeseen disruptions. Joulea’s opX Planner is a proactive partner, ensuring that your building’s systems are continually optimized—regardless of the building’s age or its equipment’s lifecycle stage.

The capX Planner

Now, say you have fully optimized the current state of your building but need to achieve more energy savings. The next step in the equipment’s lifecycle is to plan out the capital expenditures (capEx) or upgrades to the existing building. Planning building upgrades is a complex and time-consuming task, where accurate, detailed insights are essential for making informed investment decisions. Some building managers bring in third-party consultants for this guidance, yet these services can be costly and often provide only a one-time snapshot of a building’s needs. Many others, however, try to navigate this planning alone, facing the challenge of limited data and the difficulty of forecasting long-term impacts without external support.

Joulea’s capX Planner streamlines this process by providing comprehensive, ongoing insights beyond static analyses. Leveraging data from autonomous drone inspections, BAS, detailed modeling, and input from building operators, capX Planner accelerates and enhances accuracy. Instead of a one-time report, the capX Planner continuously updates its forecasts and recommendations, adapting as your building’s conditions change. This dynamic, data-driven approach empowers managers to make retrofit decisions that maximize efficiency and ROI based on forecasted energy and construction cost data—ensuring every investment achieves its full potential without the limitations of a one-off analysis.

Scenario: Modernizing an Office Complex from the 1980s

The owner of a 20-story office building is facing rising energy costs and tenant complaints about inconsistent heating and cooling. The building, constructed in the early 1980s, has not undergone significant energy upgrades. The owner knows the building is inefficient and is concerned about its environmental impact, especially with growing local energy efficiency and sustainability regulations. After researching options, they decided to partner with Joulea to modernize.

Step 1: Comprehensive Building Envelope Inspection with Envelope Explorer

Joulea starts by building an energy model based solely on the physics of how the building should theoretically use energy. In parallel, it deploys autonomous drones with infrared, LiDAR, and digital cameras to perform a full envelope inspection. The drones fly around the building’s exterior, collecting data to identify areas where energy loss occurs.

The drones detect several vital issues, including:

  • Air and water leaks around windows on multiple floors

  • Damaged wet insulation on the roof

  • Cracks in the building’s facade that are contributing to significant heating and cooling losses

Using AI algorithms, Joulea generates a 3D model of the building and classifies the issues. The owner receives a detailed report outlining the problem areas and recommendations for fixing them. The owner accesses their detailed building info through the Joulea platform, outlining the problem areas and recommendations for addressing them. The potential savings from sealing leaks and adding insulation are projected to reduce energy costs by 18% annually.

Step 2: Real-Time Energy Performance Optimization with opX Planner

Once the building envelope issues are addressed, the owner implements Joulea’s opX Planner. The AI-driven platform integrates with the building’s existing automation system, analyzing energy usage patterns, occupancy levels, and weather data in real time.

The  opX Planner identifies several inefficiencies, including:

  • Heating and cooling systems are running at total capacity in unoccupied areas during certain times of the day.

  • The building exhibits simultaneous heating and cooling, which leads to excess energy use.

  • The building lacks opportunities to shift energy consumption to off-peak hours when utility rates are lower.

Based on these insights, the opX Planner adjusts the HVAC system to optimize heating and cooling based on occupancy usage and external weather conditions and turns off systems during unoccupied hours. It also configures the BAS system to not simultaneously heat and cool the building. It recommends changes to the building’s energy tariff structure, leading to an additional 16% savings in annual operational costs.

Step 3: Retrofit Planning and ROI Forecasting with capX Planner

With the immediate energy inefficiencies resolved, the owner looks at long-term upgrades. Joulea’s capX Planner helps simulate the potential impact of various retrofit options, such as installing energy-efficient windows, upgrading HVAC systems, and adding solar panels.

The capX Planner uses data collected from the drones, BAS, and facilities team to predict accurately:

  • The energy and cost savings from each upgrade

  • The estimated payback period and return on investment (ROI) over time

  • The reduction of the building’s carbon footprint

The owner decides to prioritize installing energy-efficient windows and upgrading the HVAC system. These upgrades are forecasted to reduce energy costs by 21% annually, with full payback in five years. Furthermore, Joulea’s capX  Planner identifies local and national rebate and financing programs to help reduce the cost of implementation for these energy retrofits.

Step 4: Results and Ongoing Monitoring

After completing the recommended upgrades and optimizations, the owner’s building sees dramatic improvements:

  • Energy costs are reduced by 55%, saving them $380,000 annually.

  • The building’s carbon emissions drop significantly, helping it to comply with local sustainability regulations.

  • Tenant complaints about inconsistent temperatures decrease, increasing tenant satisfaction and retention.

With Joulea’s system in place, this building now operates at peak efficiency. The opX Planner continues to monitor performance, automatically adjusting to changes in weather and occupancy, while the capX Planner helps plan future retrofits. The building is more sustainable and profitable, as the energy savings improve the property’s overall value.

The Future of Sustainability in Commercial Spaces

Joulea’s tools offer building owners and managers aerospace thoroughness and precision with cutting-edge technologies like AI, drones, and automation. The company provides a unique and holistic approach to optimizing building performance. With tools like the Envelope Explorer,  opX Planner, and capX Planner, Joulea delivers the industry’s most accurate, data-driven, actionable insights to reduce energy waste, cut operational costs, and enhance sustainability.

As aging buildings continue contributing to substantial energy inefficiencies, Joulea’s recommendations and solutions empower building owners and managers to take control of their energy futures. With a focus on maximizing returns on investment while promoting environmental responsibility, Joulea is paving the way for a more sustainable and cost-effective commercial real estate industry. The company’s integration of modern technology ensures that even the most outdated buildings can operate at peak performance, reducing their environmental impact and driving lasting change.

Written by Neema Tavakolian

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