How Tech is supporting Decarbonisation

With the tech industry being at the forefront of innovation, it’s only natural that it’s having to face the dilemma of becoming sustainable and reducing its own carbon footprint.

In recent months we’ve heard how AI has a larger carbon footprint than any of us have probably considered. To put it into perspective, it’s debated that generating 1 AI image can use up as much energy as fully charging a smartphone.

?Pretty crazy huh.

?As the industry faces the sustainability challenge, we thought we’d focus on the positives and how the tech industry has made positive conditions to the eco world.

Firstly, if you didn’t know, decarbonisation is the term used for describing the removal or reduction of carbon dioxide (Co2) output into the atmosphere.

So how is tech supporting this?

The rise of renewables

It’s likely you’ve seen more solar panels in the last 10 years than you saw in the 10 years prior to that. We’ve seen growth in large-scale solar farms, and let’s not forget wind turbines – both advancements are generating record amounts of clean energy worldwide, which has been made possible by more efficient semiconductors.

Let’s talk electric

Electric vehicles have soared the market, becoming more accessible year on year to the average consumer. Over the past 20 years, this surge has been made possible using semiconductors enabling powerful electric motors, and cloud computing allowing for real-time battery optimisation.

Power grids

Due to the rise of renewable energy, we’ve seen a shift in our traditional power grid to a smart grid. Smart grids’ performance is supported through real-time data collecting through embedded sensors, many metrics can be tracked including energy usage and grid conditions. This is where machine learning comes into play, this data can be automatically analysed and optimise energy distribution across the grid.

Manufacturing and Internet of Things (IoT)

Internet of Things (IoT) has allowed for real-time monitoring and optimisation of industrial processes to allow seamless real-time decision making. In short, sensors collect data on energy consumption, and machine performance to name a few, and this data will be auto fed into cloud-based AI systems to identify anomalies and recommendations.

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The World Economic Forum has estimated that by 2030 ‘digital technology can cut global emissions by 15%’, I guess we’ll see when it happens.

Cloud computing, Ai and IoT have the potential to aid our infrastructure to a decarbonised state, but with this comes investment, time and resources.

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