Sustainability Street: The Rise of Intelligent Buildings

Welcome back to Sustainability Street, CPE’s podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in.Smart buildings have gotten really smart. In this episode, R-Zero Chairperson & CEO Jennifer Nuckles and I chat about how intelligent buildings have moved from advisory to actual operational control at a time when property owners are hyper-focused on improving NOI.Today, intelligent, self-optimizing properties can automatically lower owners’ energy costs along with their carbon footprints. According to Nuckles, AI-powered building management systems have enabled energy to transition from “a fixed unavoidable expense to a controllable material driver of operating expense and valuation.”These systems are also facilitating sustainability’s shift from an externally motivated activity to a line item with direct profit and loss and valuation consequences. “Sustainability initiatives are now indistinguishable from margin expansion initiatives, and the office of the CFO is really paying attention," Nuckles noted.Here are some highlights from our conversation:(01:27) Nuckle’s sustainability journey(04:07) Energy costs and dynamic buildings(06:04) Doing the math on smart buildings(08:25) From static to real time(10:15) Sustainability and smart buildings(13:45) Why your data layer is so important(15:47) Optimizing current assets over building new(17:55) Cutting the cost of regulatory compliance(19:49) How office and industrial are converging(21:18) The next frontier in intelligent buildings(22:02) More resources on technology trends