Using artificial intelligence to manage building systems can reduce their overall energy consumption by 22% compared to traditional control systems, according to the results of a new study by Schneider Electric.
The company presented the study, “AI for Climate: Quantifying the Energy and Carbon Impact of Building Optimization,” on September 21 as part of Climate Week NYC 2026. Its findings show that artificial intelligence can use existing data on building operations to automatically manage energy consumption and reduce operating costs.
In particular, using artificial intelligence to optimize heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems through an intelligent building management system delivers additional energy savings ranging from 7.2% to 12.7%.
In some simulated scenarios, total energy savings exceeded 200 MWh per year per building, and emissions reductions reached nearly 60 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent. According to Schneider Electric’s calculations, the volume of emissions avoided was more than 100 times greater than the carbon footprint of the AI system itself.
Based on current commercial rates in the markets used in the study, the potential cost savings ranged from $13,600 to $49,300 per year per building. The specific financial impact depends on the country, energy costs, building type, climatic conditions, and the existing management system.
The study was conducted using building energy modeling, with the results validated through real-world pilot projects. The analysis covered various operational scenarios for facilities in the United States, Australia, and India.
Artificial intelligence analyzes several types of information simultaneously—actual occupancy levels, weather forecasts, equipment status and performance, and other operational metrics. Based on this data, algorithms can adjust the operation of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in real time.
“The future of building management will be determined by how effectively organizations can integrate and utilize data that was previously stored in siloed systems. The level of artificial intelligence integrated into existing business systems is capable of transforming complexity into intelligence, and intelligence into action, while simultaneously reducing emissions, cutting costs, and increasing efficiency,” said Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President of Software and Services at Schneider Electric.
A key finding of the study was the potential effectiveness of AI not only for large commercial complexes. Schneider Electric notes that buildings with an area of less than 100,000 square feet—or about 9,300 square meters—can also benefit significantly.
Previously, the implementation of complex energy management systems in relatively small facilities was often limited by cost and the need to maintain specialized staff. The use of AI allows for the automation of certain processes and makes intelligent energy management accessible to a wider range of facilities.
For Ukraine, improving the energy efficiency of buildings is particularly important due to damage to the energy infrastructure and the need to simultaneously rebuild the residential, commercial, and public building stock.
“For Ukraine, the issue of energy efficiency today is no longer just a matter of electricity costs or decarbonization. It is a matter of sustainable development. Every kilowatt-hour that a building can avoid consuming without compromising conditions for its occupants reduces the load on the energy system. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to move from simply tracking consumption to actively managing it—taking into account building occupancy, weather, and equipment operating modes to automatically select the most efficient scenario,” said Mykhailo Bubnov, CEO of Schneider Electric Ukraine.
According to him, this approach may be particularly promising for facilities with high and relatively complex energy consumption.
“In Ukraine, we see great potential in hospitals, universities, administrative and office buildings, shopping centers, hotels, and industrial facilities. But even more important is the ability to immediately implement modern management systems during renovations and new construction. If we incorporate digital infrastructure and energy efficiency right from the design stage, we can create buildings that consume less energy from the outset and are better able to adapt to changes in load and operating conditions,” emphasized Bubnov.
According to Schneider Electric Ukraine, the widespread adoption of smart building management systems has the potential to benefit more than just individual property owners. Reducing and more flexibly managing energy consumption across a large number of facilities can alleviate the strain on the power grid during periods of peak demand.
However, the results of international studies cannot be automatically applied to every Ukrainian facility. The actual savings potential depends on the condition of the building, its engineering systems, operating mode, climatic conditions, and the degree of automation.
The company notes that when restoring damaged facilities, it is advisable to implement digital management systems as early as the design phase. In this case, energy efficiency becomes an integral part of the building’s engineering infrastructure from the moment it is commissioned, rather than a separate, subsequent modernization.
Schneider Electric operates in the fields of energy technologies, electrification, automation, and digitalization of buildings, industry, data centers, infrastructure, and power grids. The company operates in over 100 countries worldwide.
artificial intelligence, BUILDING, ENERGY EFFICIENCY, Schneider Electric, UKRAINE, Бубнов
The total area of residential buildings for which a notice of commencement of construction work (new construction) was registered in 2024 decreased by 7.2% compared to 2023, to 3.9 million square meters, the State Statistics Service (Ukrstat) reported.
According to the statistics agency, in January-December 2024, the total area of new construction of apartment buildings decreased by 8.6% year-on-year to 3 million 684.2 thousand square meters, while the area of single-family houses increased by 19.4% to 196.5 thousand square meters. The total area of new construction of collective housing also increased by 3.2 times, to 22.6 thousand square meters, which is the highest figure since 2019.
The number of apartments declared at the start of construction increased by 3.7% to 69.3 thousand, while the number of declared apartments in apartment buildings decreased by 11.4% compared to 2023 and amounted to 40.9 thousand square meters.
Lviv region became the leader in terms of new housing construction in 2024, with 793.2 thousand square meters, which is 8.9% less than in the previous year.
In Kyiv in 2024, the total area of new housing construction increased by 12% by 2023 to 335.6 thousand square meters, in the Kyiv region – by 3.3% to 636.3 thousand square meters.
The State Statistics Service also recorded high figures in Zakarpattia region (+44.6%, up to 370.2 thousand sq m), Ivano-Frankivsk region (minus 27%, up to 342.6 thousand sq m), Vinnytsia region (+36.7%, up to 315.1 thousand sq m). In other regions of Ukraine, the volume of new construction last year amounted to less than 200 thousand square meters.
The State Statistics Service reminds that the figures exclude the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation and part of the territories where military operations are ongoing (or have been ongoing). As reported, the total area of new housing construction in 2023 amounted to 4.2 million square meters, in 2022 – 6.67 million square meters, in 2021 – 12.7 million square meters.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has granted Kovalska Real Estate LLC permission to acquire a stake in the authorized capital of Kudryavsky Administrative and Warehouse Complex LLC, the agency’s website reports.
The Ministry made the decision on Thursday.
According to the report, Kovalska Real Estate LLC received permission to acquire a stake in ASC Kudryavsky, which ensures that the company’s supreme management body exceeds 50% of the votes.
According to Opendatabot, the owners of Kudryavsky JSIC are Atlas Mutual Fund (50%) and AMC Ukrainian Investment Society (50%), with Bohdan Serotiuk and Yuriy Sokolnytsky listed as the ultimate beneficiaries.
Kovalska Real Estate LLC is part of the Kovalska group and is engaged in residential construction. Its portfolio includes more than 20 completed residential projects.
As reported, in 2021, Kovalska Group announced its intention to revitalize the territory of the Kyiv Distillery in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv at 16A Kudriavska Street. The plant covers an area of about 2 hectares. Its buildings built in 1896 are recognized as an architectural monument of local significance, and the facade is under protection.
Kovalska Industrial and Construction Group has been operating in the Ukrainian construction market since 1956. It unites more than 20 enterprises in the field of raw materials extraction, production and construction. Its products are represented by the brands Concrete by Kovalska, Avenue, and Siltek. Kovalska’s enterprises operate in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Lviv, and Chernihiv regions. The aerated concrete plant in Kherson region has not been operating since the beginning of the occupation.
Only a third of Kyiv’s new buildings have joined the state program of preferential mortgage lending “eOselya”, the press service of the investment and development company City One Development told Interfax-Ukraine.
“The number of residential buildings in the capital where you can buy housing under the terms of the state mortgage program eHouse is increasing, now there are 48 of them, which is a third of the primary market in Kyiv. The vast majority of them offer housing in completed and commissioned buildings or in the final stages of construction. Only 13 residential complexes in the capital offer the opportunity to buy an apartment at the construction stage,” said Olena Shyshyna, an analyst at the company.
In her opinion, despite the constant changes, expansion of conditions and increase in the number of participants in the “eHouse”, the number of objects on the primary market, where you can buy an apartment under the state program, is still not enough to stimulate interest in new buildings.
According to the program manager, Ukrfinzhytlo, as of June 24, loans were issued to 11036 program participants for UAH 17.472 billion. Of these, only 359, or 3.25%, were for housing under construction.
The eOselya affordable mortgage program was launched in Ukraine in October 2022. Contract servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, employees of the security and defense sector, healthcare workers, teachers, and researchers can apply for a preferential mortgage at 3% per annum for up to 20 years with a down payment of 20% of the cost of housing.
Starting from August 1, 2023, war veterans, combatants, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and citizens who do not have their own housing larger than the standard area can apply for the eHouse program at a 7% discount.
Under the terms of the program, privileged categories of participants can purchase housing in a building under construction and buildings not older than 10 years (in the capital and regional centers), while other participants can purchase housing in a building not older than 3 years or a building under construction.
Eight partner banks participate in the program: state-owned Oschadbank, PrivatBank, Ukrgasbank, Ukreximbank, Sens Bank, as well as Globus Bank, Sky Bank, and Bank Credit Dnipro JSC.
City One Development is an investment and development company that provides a range of services in the creation and development of real estate. Among the company’s projects in the capital are Novopecherski Lypky, Boulevard of Fountains, and Sviatobor. The portfolio of completed projects includes more than 900 thousand square meters, 600 thousand square meters under construction.
Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. is considering the possibility of building an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Canada, the Nikkei newspaper reports.
Investments in the project could reach 2 trillion yen ($14 billion).
Honda is considering several sites for the construction of the plant, including a site near the company’s existing facility in Ontario. The project may include the creation of facilities for the production of electric vehicle batteries, Nikkei notes.
The automaker intends to make a decision on the site for the construction of the Canadian plant by the end of 2024. The plant is expected to start operating in early 2028.
Honda is preparing to start production of electric vehicles and batteries in the US state of Ohio in 2026, and the Canadian plant will become the second largest Japanese company in North America.
This region accounts for about 40% of all Honda sales.
Biopharma is exploring the possibility of building a new plant by 2027, the company’s president Konstantin Efimenko said.
“We have already processed almost 300 thousand liters of plasma, the company’s turnover is slightly more than $100 million, and we need to triple the company’s turnover in four years. But it will not be possible to increase capacity further, we need to build a new plant. The new plant should be ready by 2027. To make it ready by 2027, we need to start tomorrow,” he said during the forum “Dialogues on Sustainability. How Business Develops in Times of War” forum in Kyiv on Thursday.
Efymenko also said that Biopharma plans to build a plant in Romania, but this is not a strategy to reduce dependence on Ukraine, but a way to “increase turnover.”
At the same time, Efimenko noted that attracting investments to Ukraine is currently hampered, in particular, by the issues of war risk insurance and the withdrawal of dividends.
“Biopharma is concerned about this issue, but not so much, because we are here with the foundation of the White Church, with the land. We are already here and will be here. But I am worried about other investors coming here, because the question will arise who needs our country,” he said.
As reported, Biopharma plans to triple the number of its plasma centers to 30 by 2027.
