General Motors is using a Nightingale drone at their 11-million-square-foot campus in Warren to look for inefficiencies in its heating and cooling system and look for other problems. Steven Tomaszewski, director of sustainable workplaces for GM, said the drone will help the company save money and manpower. “There’s a lot of energy demand,” Tomaszewski said of the Tech Center, noting that cutting energy waste can help keep costs down. “Keeping that energy profile low is what we want to do.” A 1% improvement in efficiency equals $250,000 in savings at the Tech Center, Tomaszewski said.
Eighteen GM staffers have been trained as drone pilots to date, with another two expected to be certified by the end of the summer. The future could mean even more drone deployment, but Tomaszewski did not offer details. “This is just a start,” Tomaszewski said. “The sky’s the limit.”