Five ways AI can help the environment despite its high energy consumption

The artificial intelligence has generated concern due to its enormous consumption of water and energy. However, scientists are also experimenting with ways that technology can help people and businesses use energy more efficiently and pollute less.

Last year, the data centers needed to power AI accounted for around 1.5% of global electricity consumptionand energy expenditure from those facilities is expected to more than double by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. This increase could cause more burning fossil fuels such as coal and gas, which release greenhouse gases that contribute to rising temperatures and sea levels and extreme weather.

But when AI computing power is used to analyze energy use and pollution, it can also make buildings more efficient, charge devices at optimal times, make oil and gas production cleaner, and time traffic lights to reduce vehicle emissions.

Experts say that if uses like these continue to grow, they could help offset the energy consumed by AI.

“I am quite optimistic that although the use of AI will continue to increase,” said Alexis Abramson, dean of the Climate School at Columbia University, “we will see that our processing capacity will become much more efficient and, as a result, energy consumption will not increase as much as some predict.”

Bob French, chief brand ambassador for building automation company 75F, says AI can be used to make buildings more energy efficient by automatically adjusting lighting, ventilation, heating and cooling based on weather data, electricity usage and other factors. About a third of greenhouse gas pollution in the United States comes from homes and buildings.

Allowing AI to schedule air conditioning and heating around worker arrivals and departures can be more efficient than manually adjusting the thermostat. Otherwise, a worker’s instinct might be to turn the air on full blast to quickly adjust the temperature. Automated thermostats can be particularly useful in smaller buildings where it is not cost-effective to renew the entire heating and cooling system.

For building ventilation, automation can balance the intake of outside air with the amount of heating or cooling needed to maintain indoor temperatures.

AI can also monitor maintenance needs for HVAC systems and other equipment to predict and detect failures before more expensive repairs are required.

Combined, these automations can reduce a building’s energy consumption by 10% to 30%, experts said.

“This is literally low-hanging fruit,” said Zoltan Nagy, professor of construction services at Eindhoven University of Technology.

AI can schedule the most efficient charging of electric vehicles and other devices such as smartphones.

This means setting a schedule for the best time to draw power from the grid, such as at night, when demand and rates are lowest, so the grid is less likely to burn more fossil fuels.

“Let’s say it’s a peak period, when everyone has their air conditioning on, and I go into my house and I plug my car in and I have it set up so that it doesn’t start charging right away because it’s a peak period,” Abramson explained.

In Californiaa pilot program shifted charging to times when more renewable energy was available and saved customers money.

AI can also help optimize how homeowners with solar panels store excess energy in batteries.

Geminus AI, based in Bostonuses deep learning and advanced reasoning to help oil and gas companies reduce methane flaring and venting, and reduce the amount of energy they use in extraction and refining.

Reducing methane emissions is one of the fastest ways to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, according to the UN Program. United Nations for the Environment. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for approximately 30% of current global warming.

When pressure in oil and gas pipelines increases, some of the gas is released and burned to relieve the pressure, harming the planet and wasting money.

Greg Fallon, CEO of Geminus, said the company is able to monitor the network of wells and pipelines and use AI-powered simulations to suggest changes to compressor and pump settings that eliminate the need for venting and flaring. Geminus does this in seconds. Traditionally, it takes engineers about 36 hours to run simulations that make similar recommendations, Fallon added.

“As we embed this across the industry, there is a huge opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

Salt Lake City-based geothermal energy startup Zanskar has built AI models to understand the Earth’s subsurface. The company uses those models to find overlooked hotspots of geothermal activity and direct drilling.

Geothermal generates electricity cleanly by producing steam from the Earth’s natural heat and using it to spin a turbine. It is one of the renewable energies that the president’s government donald trump favors.

Carl Hoiland and Joel Edwards, co-founders of Zanskar, say they simulate and evaluate a large number of possible subsurface scenarios to calculate where there are pockets of very hot water. From this, they choose optimal locations and drilling directions.

“AI is becoming the solution to its own energy problem,” said Hoiland, the company’s CEO. “It shows us a way to unlock resources that weren’t possible without it.”

Last year, Zanskar purchased an underperforming geothermal power plant in New Mexico. Their AI modeling successfully indicated that there was an untapped geothermal reservoir that could reactivate the facility.

Hoiland and Edwards subsequently focused on another site in Nevada, even though industry experts told them it was too cold to support a power plant capable of providing public service. They drilled and announced their second geothermal discovery at that site in September.

Google uses artificial intelligence and data from Google Maps to identify traffic light adjustments that can reduce stop-and-go traffic to reduce pollution. Passenger cars and small pickup trucks account for about 16% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to data from the country’s Environmental Protection Agency.

Launched in 2023, Project Green Light is now in 20 cities on four continents. The most recent is Boston, which has notoriously bad traffic.

Each city receives recommendations generated by AI. City engineers determine which ones to implement. Google says Project Green Light can reduce stop-and-go traffic by up to 30%, reducing emissions by 10% and improving air quality.

“We’re just scratching the surface of what AI can do,” said Juliet Rothenberg, Google’s Earth and Resilience AI product manager.