The building
Lilac Hall is a 10,000 sq ft faculty office and collaborative workspace building at California State University, Northridge, built in 2018. KenergyAI manages about 8,000 sq ft. It already had networked lighting controls, a BACnet BMS and VAV boxes.
The problem
Traditional schedules still conditioned empty rooms for hours every day.
What we did
We installed KenergyAI AI Occupancy Based HVAC Controls on a university virtual machine linked to the existing BACnet network. No new sensors, no construction, no changes to BMS sequences. KenergyAI reads occupancy from the lighting controls and adjusts setpoints only when spaces are empty. The existing BMS stays in control when spaces are occupied.
How it was measured
Sep 2023 to May 2024 (before) vs. Sep 2025 to May 2026 (with KenergyAI).
| Measure | Before | With KenergyAI | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity | 62,106 kWh | 44,847 kWh | 28% less |
| Natural gas | 6,594 therms | 2,390 therms | 64% less |
Energy savings: about a 3-month payback. About 26 metric tons of CO2e avoided per year.
Facilities stayed in control
Overrides at the zone or building level, visible on the BMS front end. Hot/cold call processes didn't change.