In honor of April Sustainability Month, we’re highlighting the initiatives and stories that make Fishers a vibrant, sustainable community.
For Fishers resident Amrou Awaysheh, sustainable practices aren’t just about reducing your carbon footprint, but saving dollars as well. As the Executive Director of the IU Business Sustainability and Innovation Lab, Professor Awaysheh offers his research and business expertise to companies seeking sustainable strategies for lessen their environmental impact and improve their competitive advantage. Here in Fishers at the Indiana IoT Lab (9059 Technology Lane), Awaysheh created the IU IoT Energy Efficiency Lab where he develops systems for manufacturers to leverage smart meters to better understand their energy and water consumption to reduce costs.
To illustrate his work, Awaysheh says to think about your home energy bill. You are billed every month based on the amount of energy you consume, but it can be unclear what technologies in your home are the biggest users of this energy. Maybe it’s the garage light you like to keep on, a space heater that you run on warmer days, or a ceiling fan that you always forget to shut off. But what if you had a detailed breakdown of these individual machines and knew exactly how much each was costing you? That data might just motivate you to shut off that ceiling fan before leaving for work.
Awaysheh’s smart meters allow companies to track their energy usage by each outlet in their factory and present a dashboard of data to identify the machines taking the most energy. Using this data, Awaysheh’s technology can power down those machines when needed to cut costs, putting the systems that aren’t currently in use into sleep mode.
According to Awaysheh, it’s just good business. The less energy you use, the less carbon you emit, the more economically viable your company is. His work at the Indiana IoT Lab has helped over 400 manufacturing facilities from around the country and abroad recoup the more than $2 billion to date. If manufacturers across the United States implemented similar technologies, they could save over $80-100 billion of energy that is currently being wasted in manufacturing facilities each year.
Awaysheh values the Indiana IoT Lab for the resources and equipment it offers—more than he could have every accumulated on his own—and loves being around “smart people doing cool stuff.” When he’s not doing cool stuff himself, Awaysheh enjoys spending time at Holland Park and Fishers District, and enjoying the cosmopolitan community and strong quality of life that Fishers offers.
You can learn more about Awaysheh’s work here.
Stephanie Perry is the Assistant Director of Public Relations of the City of Fishers. Born and raised in Fishers, Stephanie graduated from HSE in 2006 and is now raising her kids in her childhood home in West Fishers, which she purchased from her parents when they moved. She loves supporting the local small business community, running on Fishers’ trails, and spending time at Conner Prairie with her family (Headless Horsemen and A Merry Prairie Holiday are family favorites!). Stephanie and her husband enjoy getting outdoors and spending time camping, hiking, and boating. Stephanie has enjoyed watching her city grow over the past few decades and loves the assets and amenities that the community provides, from the parks and special events to the array of restaurants and shops.