What's in a Watt

What is the next big thing? Well, if about 500 people at a conference (Realcomm, an annual IT focused Real Estate conference which was held in Boston this year) I was recently at are right it is Watts. Yes, that which powers your light bulb (or PC) is the next big thing.

This is being driven by a combination of energy prices and global concerns for the environment (yes, this is finally getting real air time). It is particularly relevant for Real Estate when you look at numbers like: 10% of the entire US usage of electricity is used for commercial building lighting and the fact that 47% of energy in the US is used in buildings.

These drivers are pushing, some would say, a revolution in the way in which people view buildings – one speaker (the CEO of a large utility company) foresees the day when buildings becomes the “power plants”, with a net outflow of energy instead of the other way around. This would be done by things like the usage of nanotech paints which trap and store usable energy from the sun. Sounds like Science Fiction? Well the really cool part is that this is not so far into the future.

Neat.