Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - How Amazon uses AWS IoT to improve sustainability across its buildings (IOT204)

Summary

Rob Aldrich, a senior solutions lead focusing on sustainability, and Jermell Fraser, a Senior Program Manager on Amazon's World Real Estate Engineering team, presented their project on using AWS IoT for sustainability in Amazon buildings.
They discussed the drivers for sustainability in real estate, including regulatory compliance, shareholder pressure, and employee recruitment and retention.
The presentation highlighted the importance of emissions reduction and building energy efficiency, emphasizing the need for better data services and tools.
Amazon's approach to building management is unique and leverages serverless management technologies and IoT design patterns.
The project aims to integrate disparate building systems and protocols, create a single data standard, and drive energy optimization.
AWS managed services like Grafana and Amazon Lookout for Equipment (L4E) are used to visualize data and improve building performance.
Ryan Burke, a senior application architect at AWS, discussed the challenges of data acquisition and ingestion, the importance of machine learning and AI, and the experimental user interfaces for building management.
The project's journey included understanding current systems, customer feedback, development cycles, and creating a single pane of glass for building performance management.

The convergence of operational technologies and cloud computing is key to driving sustainability in building management.
Regulatory changes, particularly from the EU and the US SEC, are pushing companies to report on all three scopes of emissions and are influencing corporate sustainability strategies.
There is a gap between employee expectations for company sustainability and the actual plans companies have in place.
Technology in building management systems is outdated, and Amazon's project aims to modernize this by leveraging AWS IoT and serverless technologies.
The project focuses on creating a data-driven approach to sustainability, integrating various data sources, and utilizing AWS services for data visualization and analysis.
Machine learning and AI play a significant role in transforming raw data into actionable insights for sustainability.
The project emphasizes the importance of understanding the current state of building systems, engaging with stakeholders, and iterating based on feedback to improve sustainability outcomes.
AWS IoT services are instrumental in managing the large volumes of data generated by buildings and in creating scalable, secure, and cost-effective solutions for building management.