Piloting Buildings of the Future: Azerbaijan’s AI-Energy Playbook 

This playbook, created by the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Azerbaijan in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, presents a practical blueprint for deploying AI to improve building efficiency at scale. Based on a national pilot, it applies the net-positive AI-energy framework to demonstrate how global solutions can be adapted to local infrastructure, policy and market conditions.

Drawing on insights from real-world implementation, the paper outlines key barriers, enabling policies and a scalable roadmap for adoption. It shows how coordinated action across government, industry and technology providers can turn AI into a driver of energy efficiency, resilience and low-carbon growth.

Buildings, among the largest drivers of energy demand, account for over half of Azerbaijan’s consumption and a sizeable chunk of its emissions. Without intervention, inefficient systems and outdated infrastructure can increase costs, strain energy systems and slow progress towards national climate targets. AI-enabled optimization can reduce HVAC energy use by up to 25% and emissions by 20-40%.