Arbnco breaks into US market

Glasgow-based property software company Arbnco has started work on 2 projects with the University of California, Davis to optimise energy usage and wellbeing on campus.

The value of the contract is undisclosed, but the company calls it a “long-term collaboration”, with numerous projects in the pipeline, and hopes it will open the door to the wider use of its tech by the US military and Department of Defense.

In the first project, funded by the US Office of Naval Research, UC Davis’s Energy & Efficiency Institute will use Arbn Consult+ to analyse data and identify opportunities for energy and cost savings on campus.

Arbn Consult+ is an updated version of UK-focused Arbn Consult platform, which the company claims recently generated a catalogue of around 600 retrofit improvements for a UK property portfolio, with the potential to save £2.4m in annual energy costs, and an investment payback period of 1.6 years.

The second project will look at the impact the university buildings’ air quality has on the health and wellbeing of staff and students to provide the best environment for learning and working, using their Arbn Well service. With initial results expected this summer, this project uses sensors to measure aspects such as carbon dioxide and humidity, and combines these with user feedback to establish optimum comfort levels.

The firm opened its first US office in Detroit last month, with a second site due to open in California later this year.

Arbnco was founded in 2012 as CO2 Estates. Arbnco’s other software and services for property include Arbn Renew, which shows businesses the savings renewable energies would provide, and Arbn Climate, which simulates the performance of a building for a possible future climate, using a set of potential long-term climate scenarios. UK clients of the firm include Nuveen Real Estate and Mitsubishi.

Maureen Eisbrenner, Arbnco co-founder CEO and chairman, said: “This is a really exciting time for Arbnco, and for Scottish innovation more generally, as we begin to translate our UK success into the US market. Globally, $236bn was spent on improving energy efficiency in 2017, and 59% of that was in the buildings sector, so the opportunity for Arbnco is huge both in the US and the rest of the world.”

Mark Modera, director of UC Davis’s Energy & Efficiency Institute, said: “Together we will reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in critical sectors, and improve the health and wellbeing of students, staff, and faculty.”

• Read the PlaceTech Arbn Renew product showcase