The reduction of carbon emissions is indispensable in the climate change agenda and transformation efforts undertaken by numerous authorities across the globe. To this end, artificial intelligence (AI) presents potential avenues, for instance, optimizing energy use, transportation, and even industrial processes, thereby enhancing their operation and making them less carbon-intensive.
Energy Optimization: AI has the potential to cut emissions drastically by optimizing the generation and use of electricity. For example, machine learning classifiers are trained to predict the energy demand, which enables the grid to manage the supply thus especially the renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. AI also improves the smart grid efficiency by managing the energy load and losses.
Transportation and Logistics: The second largest sector responsible for approximately 24% of CO2 emissions is the transportation sector. AI helps in saving emissions in logistics by optimizing delivery paths and planning. For example, AI in logistics helps companies in efficient fleet management by helping to plan routes of the fleets, eliminating unnecessary stops and idle times. In addition, AI-powered autonomous electric vehicles are designed to alleviate emissions by providing different efficient driving styles.
Industrial Efficiency: Manufacturing is another big culprit in emissions. In this case, predictive maintenance powered by AI ensures efficiency in the energy used by machines. AI predictive models further assist in the industrial activities by lessening energy-depleting activities and thus industries such as cement and steel manufacturing reduce their carbon emissions.
Gaps and Way Forward: Notwithstanding the high promise of AI systems, the implementation is hampered by limitations such as scarce data and expensive costs. However, it is anticipated that as time goes by and technology progresses these factors will reduce significantly. But to realize the full potential of AI in emission reduction, cross-sectoral and government cooperation will be necessary.
Authors: Jash Vakharia & Parv Jain
