IBM has released new software designed to cut energy costs by monitoring sensors inside of large buildings and flagging potential maintenance issues.
IBM's Intelligent Building Management software is designed to collect data from sensors and building control systems from companies including Johnson Controls and Schneider Electric, the company said. Some large buildings have 80,000 points of data that the software can access, leading to millions of data points a week, IBM said.
The software is designed to monitor "every valve, thermostat, light switch," flow rates on heating and air conditioning systems and water systems, IBM said.
"Until now, organizations have been looking in their rear-view mirror to reduce their buildings' energy use," David Bartlett, vice president of IBM's smarter buildings division, said in a statement. "IBM sees a tremendous opportunity to help organizations listen to and make sense of a building's operations by applying a real-time, analytic approach."
Buildings consume 42 percent of all energy worldwide, and energy costs represent about 30 percent of a building's cost, IBM said.
The Tulane University School of Architecture in New Orleans and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have adopted the software, IBM said. The museum is using the software to monitor climatic conditions that affect artwork in its medieval branch, IBM said.