Decarbonizing the built environment, a major contributor to global carbon emissions, is vital in the push toward net-zero goals. Amongst several emerging and innovative technologies reshaping the construction industry, quantum computing is gaining attention for its potential use in areas such as building operations.
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Quantum computing offers significantly greater processing power compared to conventional binary-based computing systems, presenting promising opportunities to the smart, low-carbon buildings of the future. Quantum optimization and energy modeling, for instance, can significantly impact building operations, opening up new possibilities for design and efficiency.
Why Decarbonizing Building Operations is a Challenge
Decarbonizing the built environment is highly challenging, but essential to reach net zero carbon emissions targets. The construction sector contributes nearly 40% of global CO2 emissions, according to the United Nations Environment Program and other experts. Concrete and steel use alone, for instance, emits around 18% of global emissions. Moreover, the sector produces significant amounts of waste.1
Aside from the carbon emissions caused by the building materials themselves and carbon-intensive construction practises, key challenges include operational inefficiencies and energy management once a building enters its service life. For instance, everyday emissions from areas such as lighting and heating account for around 70% of a building’s total emissions.2 Energy-intensive air conditioning in the summer and heat loss during the winter are also major contributors to a building’s carbon footprint.
Current solutions like smart grids and advanced energy modelling, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, are already helping to address these challenges and reduce the carbon footprint of buildings. Quantum computing can help to complement these transformative technologies.
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The Promise of Quantum Computing in Optimization
Quantum computing offers benefits across a slew of industries and scientific fields, thanks to its super-polynomial processing capabilities that far exceed those of classical computing. Whereas a conventional computer can only perform calculations in binary, quantum computers use superposition to perform calculations using qubits in multiple states at once. Building energy management and optimization systems that incorporate quantum computing will be much more efficient than traditional systems.
Quantum computing holds strong potential for a variety of building management applications. More optimized HVAC systems are possible as quantum computing aids in their design, overcoming issues such a network generation - a task that’s computationally intensive for traditional systems. Additionally, building-wide energy management can be enhanced using quantum computing, for instance by integrating of distributed energy resources.
Processes such as quantum annealing, which is an optimization process in quantum computing, are relevant to operation management in smart buildings. By rapidly identifying optimal configurations for energy usage, HVAC scheduling, or lighting control, quantum annealing can help reduce waste and lower carbon emissions, contributing to more sustainable building operations. Hybrid classical-quantum computing systems are also gaining traction, combining the strengths of both approaches to tackle complex problems more efficiently.
Emerging Research and Pilot Projects
Emerging research and pilot projects are exploring how quantum computing can be integrated with energy management and building operations.
Recent research published in Engineering demonstrated how quantum computing can be applied to support sustainability goals in energy management and building operations. A team from Cornell University developed a strategy that incorporates model predictive control that can be used in buildings equipped with renewable energy and battery storage.3
The project was demonstrated on buildings at Cornell University, achieving a 41.2% carbon emissions reduction. Furthermore, the research team noted that their technology could offer opportunities for commercial scalability, even with limited quantum computing resources.
D-Wave have also employed quantum computing for sustainable building design. In collaboration with partners such as QuantumBasel and VINCI Energies, D-Wave have produced innovative quantum-based solutions for HVAC design optimization, reducing the carbon footprint of buildings.4 The project helps engineers overcome what is known as the network generation process, which is typically very computational resource-heavy and expensive.
Additionally, companies like IBM are working on innovative near-term applications for quantum computing strategies in this area of research.
Real-World Use Cases and Industry Perspectives
Quantum computing isn’t just being explored in research settings: it’s also being applied in real-world efforts to tackle sustainability challenges. Quantum sensors and quantum machine learning are increasingly being integrated into new construction projects. Technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) are enhancing the benefits of quantum and quantum hybrid solutions.
Honeywell have made inroads into this emerging construction industry field with their Advance Control for Buildings platform. Honeywell’s quantum solutions have already been applied in the real world, helping to enhance energy efficiency at a smart university in Dubai.5 Energy of up to 10% were made possible by using the company’s expertise and technology.
Current Limitations and Technical Hurdles
Most current solutions rely on hybrid classical-quantum computing technologies. Key technical challenges include scalability, the high cost of emerging quantum technologies (both financially and in terms of computing resources), decoherence, and limited access to hardware
However, as quantum computing continues to advance and becomes more commercially accessible, many of these obstacles could be addressed in the near future. This progress holds promise for broader adoption of quantum technologies in real-world smart building management applications.
Future Prospects for Low-Carbon Innovation
Quantum systems such as algorithms, quantum machine learning, and quantum-enabled sensor networks can have a positive impact on the energy efficiency and carbon footprint of smart buildings by being incorporated into building management systems. This could enable carbon-neutral building ecosystems, both in new builds and by retrofitting existing structures with new quantum capabilities.
Furthermore, emerging quantum-enhanced digital twins and energy simulations can help to design new, more energy and resource-efficient HVAC networks, for example. Quantum-enhanced digital twins could also hold the potential for enhanced predictive maintenance in the smart buildings of the future.
The smart building market is bound to undergo steady growth over the next decade, with the commercial sector driving growth.6 Energy management systems are seeing growing adoption as part of broader sustainability efforts. The arrival of affordable, commercially scalable quantum computing is likely to make a significant impact on this sector, opening up new possibilities for optimization and efficiency at scale.
Further Reading and More Information
- UN Environment Programme (2025) Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2024/25 [online] unep.org. Available at: https://www.unep.org/resources/report/global-status-report-buildings-and-construction-20242025 (Accessed on 05 July 2025)
- Economist Impact (2023) Most buildings are wasting energy – its time they smartened up [online] impact.economist.com. Available at: https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/net-zero-and-energy/buildings-of-the-future (Accessed on 05 July 2025)
- Ajagekar, A & You, F (2025) Decarbonization of Building Operations with Adaptive Quantum Computing-Based Model Predictive Control Engineering [online] Elsevier. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2025.02.002 (Accessed on 05 July 2025)
- QuantumBasel (2023) Quantum Pilot Project [online] quantumbasel.com. Available at: https://quantumbasel.com/press-media/quantumbasel-vinci-quantumproject-d-wave (Accessed on 06 July 2025)
- Honeywell Forge (2025) A Smrt University Gets Smarter [online] Available at: https://www.honeywellforge.ai/us/en/case-studies/hamdan-bin-mohammed-smart-university (Accessed on 06 July 2025)
- Markwide Research (2025) Smart Building Market Analysis – Industry Size, Share, Research Report, Insights, Covid-19 Impact, Statistics, Trends, Growth and Forecast 2025-2034 [online] Available at: https://markwideresearch.com/smart-building-market/ (Accessed on 07 July 2025)
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