"Despite the scientific evidence confirming the reality of climate change, the world´s nations have not yet taken truly effective measures to reverse it, and the latest climate accords are limited to the goal of maintaining the global average temperature rise to fewer than 2 °C as compared to preindustrial levels. This lack of commitment is not attributable to the fact that our countries are not aware of the negative impact of increased emissions, but rather to the elevated costs associated with the actions required to reduce them. Meanwhile, greenhouse gases continue to be released into the atmosphere. By sector, buildings and industrial structures are responsible for more than half of all CO2 emissions in the United States, according to the U.S. Green Building Council.
New buildings are designed to be more and more efficient, but existing buildings require additional measures. The industry has identified an ally in the measuring devices that monitor the different energy usages of a building. These devices help companies to implement measures to reduce their energy comsumption. However, given that every building is different, this necessitates customized measuring devices, which elevates costs, and has therefore limited their adoption.
Vincent Bryant, an engineering graduate from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon (France) with a Master´s degree in business administration from the London School of Business (England), wanted to add his grain of salt to solving this problem, and he has channeled these efforts into Deepki Ready, a software capable of monitoring energy usage in all types of building. This innovative project has placed Bryant amongst the 10 winners of MIT Technology Review´s Innovators Under 35 France 2016 awards.
Deepki Ready uses existing information in combination with data analysis algorithms, predictive models and big data technologies. This mix allows for a more economical analysis of a company´s information, which in turn provides a cheaper alternative for energy transition to more sustainable models.
The system offers companies information that highlights where costs and energy usage can be cut; for example, something as simple as which lights are left on overnight. Bryan explains his project: ""With the information we compile, we help companies to understand their buildings and to identify where energy can be saved. We help them to improve their operational efficiency.""
The advantages of Deepki Ready are already being perceived by the company´s 60 customers. In comparison with other similar systems, the young innovator maintains: ""We are innovators for many reasons: most companies that already do this use measuring devices and we don´t need them, they use data analysis and we use statistical algorithms and we have developed a platform that does not need to be specifically adapted to each building, and therefore [our solution] is much cheaper"".
""Although Deepki is a young company, Vincent and his team have grown quickly, as their 60,000€ in sales generated during just the first year demonstrate"", as Jean-Pierre Monéger, the general director of ENGINE Cofely and a jury member of the awards points out. According to this expert, the company´s numbers ""confirm the approval of the product by the French market.""
Looking forward, Deepki plans to deliver upgrades to its platform, like the industrialization of certain aspects which are still manually executed. But in the more immediate term, the team has signed a two-year contract with SNCF, the French national railway company, to install Deepki Ready in its 23,000 buildings, which suggests that Bryant´s project´s journey may only have just begun."
