Researchers at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are currently developing a modeling software suite that takes advantage of publicly available data to provide specifics and enable those interested to visualize energy details about 129 million buildings in America. The simulation tool has been named the Automatic Building Energy Modeling and has taken years to create. The idea behind the software comes from the lab’s longstanding goal to generate digital twins for every structure in the US. The software would help home and business owners access information necessary to make actionable and environmentally-conscious decisions regarding boosting energy efficiency.

The project began in 2015 when there was no single resource to quantify the energy makeup of all US buildings. Researchers recognized that this asset could help America reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. According to the ORNL, buildings account for 40% of the US’s energy usage and 75% of its electricity. Ultimately, the high-performance computing ran building models could be used to predict technologies that could be implemented in certain spaces to save energy and reduce carbon emissions.

Read More: Oak Ridge-Made Software Platform Digitally Twins All U.S. Buildings