Our Buildings are Responsible for Up to a Third of all Greenhouse Gases – But AI Could be the Way to Reduce This

As our collective climate change awareness increases, people across society are becoming increasingly in tune with the impact of their lifestyle choices and day to day activities on the environment, from the pollution associated with cars and airplanes to the water consumption and deforestation tied up in agricultural farming as a result of the food we eat.

What many people may not realise is that even the buildings we live, work and shop in are responsible for a significant portion of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2021 the ration of buildings accounted for 30% of global final energy consumption and 27% of total energy sector emissions. 8% were thanks to the direct emissions of buildings, with 19% indirect emissions from the production of electricity and heat used in buildings. 

However, Artificial Intelligence is paving the way forward to ensure our buildings can operate in the most sustainable manner. One company leading the charge is Infogrid, a startup harnessing the power of AI to collect and analyse data on metrics such as air quality, occupancy, and energy consumption, which can enable organisations to optimise their buildings for sustainability and efficiency. 

This is a win-win situation. Companies can improve their efficiency, reaping the financial benefits of this whilst also improving their ESG. Employees on the other hand can benefit from healthier and more comfortable buildings - Infogrid's technology can also be used to monitor air quality and to optimise the maintenance and the cleaning requirements of a building. Given that 48% of employees say the health of their workplace impacts their productivity and 58% say healthy conditions impact their decision to stay with a company, tools that help to ensure healthy workplaces are more important than ever - particularly given the concerns raised during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The firm recently announced that they had successfully completed a Series B round, with founder William Cowell de Gruchy commenting: "We are proud to announce that Infogrid has raised $90 million in our Series B funding round and anticipate that this will see us through to breakeven. Maughan Capital has made a follow-on investment in this round and has been a pleasure to work with once again. We are especially pleased to partner with Maughan Capital as their diligent ESG led approach to investing aligns wonderfully with Infogrid's mission to drive meaningful long term environmental change from upgrading the efficiency of the world's buildings."

Maughan Capital has long been investing in outside-of-the-box sustainable innovations, from innovations that facilitate the use of mealworms as a sustainable animal feed to technology that live streams images of the earth for humanitarian benefits. The repeat investment from the ESG focused investment vehicle, along with their other backers (which includes from Original Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Northzone) is a vote of confidence in the potential of this AI driven innovation.