Interview: VP, Smart Buildings
Amit Paul is Vice President, Smart Buildings at Prescriptive Data. With an engineering background, he’s focused on driving energy management and environmental sustainability into the future. With the Nantum team since 2020, Amit identifies opportunities to accelerate progress on emissions-reduction goals through energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects utilizing his significant experience in SaaS and built environments.
What’s your role at PD?
My role at PD covers several areas of the company: operations, project management, new project development, engineering support, and some others depending on the day. Additionally, I work closely with the rest of the company to keep everyone up-to-date on what I see in the industry and what I hear from our customers as it relates to our product.
How did you first hear about PD and what drew you into the sustainable technology industry?
I’ve worked in the sustainability and engineering industry for my entire career. Prior to Prescriptive Data, I worked at an energy engineering and sustainability consulting firm where I heard of Nantum through the NYC Mayor’s Carbon Challenge. The energy and carbon savings that Nantum delivered for Rudin’s commercial portfolio were impressive and led to several clients asking about Nantum for their portfolios. PD has been on my radar ever since.
What’s the most rewarding part of working at PD?
I love the people I get to work with every day.
What’s the biggest misconception about the work you do?
Earlier in my career, I did compliance work with real estate owners. I wasn’t usually working with those who wanted to be on the cutting edge of energy and sustainability technology. Fortunately once I joined PD, I realized I had wrongly labeled the entire commercial real estate sector as not being interested in new sustainable technology.
At PD, I’m able to work with many innovative and ESG-focused real estate owners in the space. It's been an eye-opening experience to see there are owners, and many of them!, genuinely interested in adopting new technologies to improve operations and drive sustainability goals.
“There’s room for everyone to contribute to sustainability. Sustainability is an interdisciplinary field and people coming from all types of academic and professional backgrounds can find ways to solve challenges using their unique perspective and skill set. ”
Where do you see this industry in 5-10 years?
I expect to see increased adoption of AI and ML in the daily operation of buildings including the detection of anomalies and in operational optimization to save energy.
What does your family *think* you do?
My parents flip between saying I’m an environmental engineer or that I work in IT. Thankfully my wife can explain what I do pretty accurately.
My dog thinks I leave him for long periods to have fun without him.
What does your family *think* you do?
On the operations side of PD, there isn’t a “typical” day. We’re out there solving problems daily and that can mean anything from traveling into the depths of a building to investigate steam meters, meeting with customers to understand how Nantum can address their challenges, or assisting my team to resolve any issues with their projects.
What advice would you give a young student considering a career in sustainable technology?
I’m a believer that there’s room for everyone to contribute in this field. Sustainability is an interdisciplinary field and people coming from all types of academic and professional backgrounds can find ways to solve sustainability challenges using their unique perspective and skill set.
