Australian HVAC optimization company Brightspace, along with local partner Stratcon.ph, is targeting the Philippine market with AI-powered building technologies aimed at reducing cooling-related electricity consumption in commercial buildings.

During a webinar held Tuesday, May 12, Brightspace Founder and CEO Robert de Burgh-Day said the Philippines presents a strong opportunity for HVAC optimization due to its unique circumstances of high electricity prices, year-round cooling demand, and tropical climate.

“We are only really interested in going into buildings where we can provide a significant financial benefit for the asset,” de Burgh-Day said.

The company said heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems typically account for around 50% to 60% of electricity consumption in tropical commercial buildings such as malls, airports, offices, and convention centers.

Presentation materials shown during the webinar indicated Philippine commercial electricity tariffs ranging from PHP 11 to PHP 13 per kilowatt-hour, while noting that buildings in the country operate under “365 days of cooling every year.”

Brightspace said its platform combines AI-powered occupancy tracking, indoor air quality monitoring, and granular real-time energy monitoring, supported by Smappee, to dynamically optimize HVAC operations.

According to de Burgh-Day, the system creates a “live digital twin” of a building that continuously tracks occupancy levels, air quality conditions, and energy usage to intelligently adjust ventilation and cooling requirements in real time, while also providing other commercial insights into building usage.

The company presented several international case studies during the webinar, including a project at Shellharbour Airport in Australia that achieved a 44% reduction in HVAC energy consumption through occupancy-based cooling optimization.

Brightspace said the project generated projected annual savings equivalent to around PHP 760 per square meter.

Additional projects highlighted during the webinar included deployments in Sydney, Singapore, and Malaysia, with projected HVAC energy savings ranging from 30% to 38%.

The company also emphasized that its system can operate both with and without an existing Building Management System (BMS), allowing deployment even in older commercial facilities that lack centralized building automation systems.

According to Brightspace, its occupancy tracking platform uses edge computing and a decentralized mesh network to process data directly on-device rather than transmitting video feeds externally.

“We physically cannot identify people and pass any personal identifying information on, even if we wanted to,” de Burgh-Day said.

The webinar, held in partnership with Stratcon.ph and powered by Smappee, also discussed how building analytics and occupancy data could help improve future HVAC upgrades, support ESG reporting requirements, and optimize building operations beyond energy management.

Brightspace and Stratcon said they are aiming to formally enter the Philippine market later this year, with pilot deployments and local standards discussions currently underway.

As cooling demand continues to drive electricity consumption in commercial buildings, could AI-powered HVAC optimization become a key energy-saving solution for the Philippines?

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