Occutel

Energy Efficiency Comes to the Office

4.9 million commercial buildings each consume, on average, more than $70,000 of energy annually.

Current occupancy sensors—the ones you wave your hands at when the lights in the conference room turn off—are not sophisticated. Lights stay on too long or turn off too soon resulting in wasted energy and user annoyance.

Researchers at USU’s Research Foundation in the USTAR-funded Institute for Intuitive Buildings have developed accurate intelligence sensing technology. A combination of hardware and software that logs and anticipates user patterns, the prototypes USU has developed could reduce the energy used in commercial buildings dramatically. The camera-based sensor works with low-cost, off-the-shelf hardware—making the technology cost competitive.