Microsoft (MSFT), Software, and Building Energy Management

Rob Bernard, Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) chief environmental strategist, said the company is working with partners at this time in an attempt to work out a strategy for software and services for better managing energy consumption in commercial buildings.

"Upwards of 20% of energy can be reduced by not replacing windows but by deploying technology," he said at a gathering at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

Additionally, Microsoft is looking at ways to tie building management systems into predictive analysis tools to better balance energy production and consumption. With predictive analysis tools, air conditioners in buildings could be turned down, for example, to compensate for a sudden decline in power production at a wind farm.

'What are the right ways to structure this ecosystem? Today it is all disconnected sources of information," he said.

If this strategy sounds familiar, it should. EnerNoc (ENOC), Silver Spring Networks, Serious Materials, Scientific Conservation, Johnson Controls (JCI), Schneider Electric (SBGSF.PK), IBM (IBM) and Honeywell (HON) have all sketched out strategies for improving the energy efficiency of buildings and then tying building energy consumption into demand response/demand management networks for more fluid, efficient power consumption.




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