Sustainability initiatives are an increasingly crucial area of focus for many organizations, and the use of AI and the cloud may be a particularly effective system for implementing these efforts.
While there are many steps to be taken in driving sustainability across various industries—from getting serious about green energy to making supply chains more efficient and creating sustainable packaging—the implementation of strategies to reduce carbon emissions is a particularly important area to focus on as increased emissions could in turn lead to catastrophic damage from global warming.
AI’s Impact On Sustainability: An Ongoing Cycle
For businesses to become more responsible, they must have the tools available to help guide them through their sustainability initiatives.
Recently, there has been an increase in publicly available datasets focused on weather, emissions and the impact of specific activities on the overall climate (i.e., the amount of CO2 used on a flight). Public data can be a powerful tool to educate the general public on activities that are actively harming the climate and will be vital to making a tangible difference moving forward.
AI, of course, consumes energy, too. While it can be a force for good in confronting this climate crisis of our own making in the long run, we should be mindful and pay attention to where the energy powering all those data centers is coming from.
Democratizing Green Energy Infrastructure
One example of a cloud-based approach to sustainability can be seen in Google’s use of power purchase agreements (PPAs) to ensure that its energy consumption is environmentally intelligent. By committing to green power consumption in advance, Google has been able to direct the build-out of solar arrays, wind farms and other green energy infrastructure.
Another example of a company taking a similar, cloud-based approach to sustainability is Apple. Apple prioritizes renewable energy for its product manufacturing and retail stores. They’ve signed PPAs for solar and wind projects across various countries, aiming to achieve carbon neutrality for their entire supply chain.
These examples show a great start, and actions from large enterprises can have ripple effects across the entire business ecosystem. However, more needs to be done to ensure that green power is easily accessible and less expensive. Democratizing this process can open up avenues for smaller companies to leverage green technology and infrastructure, which is necessary to ensure that the entire business world can operate more sustainably in the future.
Increasing Energy Efficiency
Cloud-based approaches to sustainability can also help lead to greater efficiency, particularly in the context of data centers. For example, as its data centers have grown in size, Google has taken responsibility for its climate impact by becoming more efficient at reducing its power utilization efficiency (PUE) numbers.
To become more efficient, however, data centers need to reimagine their own infrastructures. For example, implementing liquid cooling into data center operations can reduce power consumption by up to 10% while somewhat counterintuitively reducing reliance on water consumption.
Transitioning to more energy-efficient infrastructures is a point of focus at the federal level as well; the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) is just one example of governments helping data centers operate more sustainably moving forward. As governments and other organizations offer incentives for green tech and energy efficiency, it is also likely that there will be a growing number of startups focused on developing new solutions in this area.
New solutions in the space are leveraging AI to help generate sustainability reports for businesses, track sustainability metrics to avoid “greenwashing” and track emissions in real time to hold companies accountable for their emissions levels.
Transitioning To A Fully Renewable System
It’s important to note that while initiatives such as power purchase agreements and carbon-neutral operations are important steps toward sustainability, they shouldn’t be viewed as the end objective. The ultimate goal should be to transition toward a fully renewable and sustainable energy system. This will require significant investment and innovation, but it’s a goal that we must strive toward if we hope to address the threat of our climate crisis.
Although AI may contribute to carbon emissions, as the technology continues to become more advanced and datasets continue to grow, its use in predicting and optimizing energy consumption patterns can help to further increase efficiency and reduce emissions.
The use of AI for sustainability initiatives in the cloud is a promising step toward reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainability. However, it’s just one part of a larger effort that must be made to address the urgent issue of climate change. Continual investment in renewable energy, promoting circular economy practices, and using the cloud for virtual meetings and remote work can allow us to deliver a more sustainable future for all.
Source: Forbes
