post

Rich Lechner talks about Smart Buildings and a Smarter Urban Infrastructure

I had a great chat about Smart Buildings the other day with IBM’s VP Energy and Environment, Rich Lechner.

Why are smart buildings important? Well, as Rich says, in the US buildings are responsible for about 70% of the energy consumption and for about 40% of the greenhouse gases emitted.

When you combine that with the fact that 3.5bn people are living in cities today and that that number is rapidly increasing you start to see why making buildings smarter needs to be a very high priority.

The chat with Rich was great because, as with all my interviews, it was unscripted and Rich talked knowledgeably and compellingly about the kinds of ways we can make buildings smarter, and gave the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas as a case study of what can be achieved.

The interview was so good, I split it in two rather than cutting any of it out – here’s part 2:

[Disclosure] – These videos were sponsored by IBM.