“Set It and Forget It” Automation: An Era Where Investment Returns Are Automatically Achieved

I left the heating on when I went to work. The air conditioner kept cooling an empty conference room. Such wastefulness is a daily occurrence in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) offices and stores.

So, let me ask: Do you know how much money you’re wasting each year?

In this article, I will present three case studies: a two-year rigorous test of AI heating, radar-equipped air conditioners, and the first digital airport control tower in the United States. While the scales vary, they share a commonality: “Costs are automatically reduced without any human intervention.” I will lay out the investment returns numerically and delve into whether these solutions can be applied in the field of SMEs.

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AI Heating Two-Year Test: Annual Savings of ¥28,000. Initial Investment Recouped in 1.5 Years

Samuel Gibbs from The Guardian conducted a two-year test of an AI heating system at home. The result was approximately a 25% cost reduction compared to traditional manual controls, saving about £180 annually, which is around ¥28,000.

You might think, “¥28,000 a year? That’s not much,” but that’s for a single household. Here’s where it gets relevant for SMEs.

What Happens When We Apply This to an SME Office?

The annual heating costs for a typical Japanese SME office (around 50-100 square meters) range from ¥150,000 to ¥300,000 when combining gas, oil, and electricity. A 25% reduction would mean savings of ¥37,000 to ¥75,000 annually.

What about the cost of implementing AI heating control? Gibbs used smart thermostats like tado° and Nest, which cost around ¥30,000 to ¥60,000 including installation. This means the investment can be recouped in as little as six months, or at most 1.5 years.

Moreover, the essence of this system lies in its “learning” capability. The AI learns the residents’ living patterns, changes in outside temperature, and the building’s insulation performance, automatically controlling the system to “lower the temperature during unoccupied hours and warm up before residents return.” Once set, it requires no further attention. There’s zero reliance on specific individuals. It doesn’t matter if a new employee comes in or if the responsible person leaves.

Caution: The Numbers Behind the Scenes

Gibbs himself acknowledges that energy prices fluctuate from year to year. During the two-year testing period, energy prices in the UK varied significantly, meaning the “25% reduction” figure can change depending on conditions. However, since the control logic itself is structured to “reduce unnecessary operation,” the higher the energy prices rise, the greater the savings will be. In other words, the benefits of AI heating increase during periods of rising fuel costs, which is advantageous for SMEs in rural areas.

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Radar-Equipped Air Conditioners: No More Cooling Empty Rooms

Wired featured radar-equipped air conditioners with a simple yet powerful concept. They detect whether there are people in the room using millimeter-wave radar and automatically switch to energy-saving mode if no one is present.

The difference from traditional motion sensors lies in accuracy. Infrared sensors detect “movement,” which can lead to misjudgments, such as assuming a person is “not present” when they are sitting still at a desk. Radar can pick up even minute movements like breathing. This eliminates complaints about the air conditioner shutting off when there are still people in the room.

How Does This Affect Electricity Costs for SMEs?

According to data from the Ministry of the Environment, air conditioning accounts for about 40-50% of electricity consumption in offices. For an office with a monthly electricity bill of ¥100,000, air conditioning alone costs ¥40,000 to ¥50,000.

The reduction effect of radar air conditioners is estimated to be up to 30%, according to Wired and various manufacturers’ calculations. If air conditioning costs ¥50,000 a month, that results in a monthly saving of ¥15,000, or ¥180,000 annually.

What about the initial investment? Radar-equipped commercial air conditioners are expected to cost an additional ¥50,000 to ¥150,000 per unit compared to standard models. If three units are installed in an office, the additional cost would be ¥150,000 to ¥450,000. With an annual saving of ¥180,000, the investment could be recouped in 1 to 2.5 years.

The True Value Lies in “Unoccupied Time”

SME offices and stores typically have a higher ratio of “unoccupied time” compared to large corporations. Conference rooms are often empty for most of the day. Warehouses are unoccupied outside of shipping hours. The time when staff are present in a store’s back office is limited.

This means that the longer the unoccupied time, the greater the savings from radar air conditioners. SMEs with sparse operational patterns benefit more than large corporations with consistently full offices. This is a structure that works particularly well for SMEs.

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Digital Airport Control Towers: Different Scale, Same Structure

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has begun operations of a digital control tower at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport in Florida. This system monitors the entire airport using 360-degree cameras and sensors, allowing for remote air traffic control without the need to construct a physical control tower.

“We’re not an airport, so this doesn’t concern us”—if you think that, hold on a moment. The key point to note is the change in cost structure.

The Construction Cost of a Control Tower is Billions; Now It’s Zero

Traditional control towers cost hundreds of millions to billions of yen to construct and require annual maintenance costs of several million dollars (hundreds of millions of yen). Digital control towers only require the installation of cameras, sensors, and communication equipment, leading to a drastic reduction in construction costs.

It makes sense that the FAA first introduced this technology at smaller airports. Large airports already have existing control towers. However, smaller regional airports face the problem of not having the budget to build a control tower, which means they cannot have a resident air traffic controller. With digitalization, that constraint disappears.

A Structure That Relates to SMEs

This structure is similar to what SMEs experience.

• Large corporations can implement dedicated BEMS (Building Energy Management Systems). SMEs often lack the budget.
• Large corporations can hire dedicated facility managers. SMEs often have general affairs staff taking on multiple roles.
• Large corporations can build their own buildings. SMEs are tenants and have limited freedom for capital investment.

“While full specifications may not be feasible, achieving 80% effectiveness with inexpensive sensors and AI is possible”—the digital control tower aligns perfectly with smart thermostats and radar air conditioners under this logic.

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What We Can See by Comparing the Three Case Studies

The common points are “once implemented, they operate automatically, do not require human judgment, and are not dependent on individuals.”

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So, What Should We Do?

It’s clear what SMEs should do first.

1. Visualize current utility costs.
Monthly electricity, gas, and oil costs. What percentage of these are due to air conditioning? Most companies do not have this information. Without understanding it, you cannot measure the potential savings.

2. Start with smart thermostats.
These can be implemented for ¥30,000 to ¥60,000 and have the potential for payback within six months. There are also models that require no installation. Begin by experiencing “letting AI take over.”

3. Consider radar-equipped models when updating air conditioners.
There’s no need to replace existing air conditioners. Simply choose a radar-equipped model with a slight additional cost during the next update.

4. Increase the number of “set it and forget it” solutions.
Heating and air conditioning are fundamentally the same. Sensors and AI can continuously provide optimal solutions without human judgment. This structure can be expanded to lighting, ventilation, hot water supply, and security. Each individual solution may be small, but cumulatively, they can eliminate tens of thousands of yen in fixed costs annually.

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“Set It and Forget It” Can Become a Weapon for SMEs

Large corporations invest tens of millions in BEMS and operate them with dedicated teams. SMEs don’t have that luxury.

However, with a ¥30,000 smart thermostat and a radar air conditioner at the next update, SMEs can achieve a reduction rate comparable to large corporations at 25-30%. The investment is less than one-hundredth of that of large corporations, with a payback period of under two years.

This is the structure where “SMEs can win.” Large corporations take time and costs to replace existing systems. SMEs can be agile and start tomorrow.

Just as the digital control tower holds value for “small airports that cannot build control towers,” affordable automation tools are effective for “SMEs that lack budget for capital investment.”

Just try one unit first; the numbers will follow automatically.