5 Ways AI Can Help Fight Climate Change
Artificial intelligence now plays a role in manufacturing, education, and many other areas. But can AI help us save the planet? How can AI contribute to tackling climate change, and are there any ways through which it may damage our environment?
1. Monitoring the Climate
We already have plenty of technology to monitor our climate, but integrating AI into such devices may allow us to take things up a level.
With the help of artificial intelligence, certain climate patterns could be picked up on that haven’t been noticed using traditional methods, such as certain trends that may reveal how our planet is changing. What’s more, AI could draw important conclusions about where our climate is heading, allowing us to mitigate negative effects better.
To achieve this, it may be useful to equip orbital satellites with AI capabilities so that a larger picture can be drawn of the state of the planet. But AI climate monitoring could also be employed on a smaller scale to assess a single ecosystem’s changing nature. Regardless of the scale, machine learning could go a long way in teaching us how our actions affect the climate.
2. Monitoring Carbon Footprints
Carbon emissions are a huge contributor to climate change, withOur World in Datareporting that 1.5 trillion tonnes of CO2 being emitted since 1750. It’s clear to most of us that tackling climate change largely involves the reduction of carbon emissions, but this hasn’t gone well so far on a global scale.
By using AI, the carbon footprints of large corporations, such as oil and gas companies, clothing manufacturers, and mass farming entities, could be continuously tracked to determine what effect their operations are having on our planet. Alternatively, AI couldmonitor the carbon footprint of individualsor entire populations, such as the residents of a major city or small town.
The use of predictive AI (i.e., data analysis and machine learning to make forecasts) may also play a role here, as it could predict future carbon emissions, allowing us to see how things will play out based on our current activities. This, in turn, can help in the environmental laws and regulations governments impose.
Another interesting potential use of AI in mitigating the global carbon footprint is determining where large sources of carbon emissions are coming from, highlighting the key contributors to this issue. This could be done on both a small and large scale, but either way, it could provide us with some key information on what, or who, is harming our planet.
3. Monitoring Changes in Land Use
Today, the use of our planet’s land plays a key role in climate change. Mass farming, deforestation, housing developments, and roadways contribute to global warming through carbon emissions and removing natural habitats. On top of this, we need more ways to use land in a less environmentally damaging way.
So, it’s important that this is monitored so that we can better determine how land is being used or abused, mainly by larger organizations that have the infrastructure to transform vast landscapes.
We can use AI in this way to see how we can improve our land use practices and maybe even gain new ideas on how to use land smarter (e.g., using stretches of desert to make solar panel farms or coastal areas to harness tidal energy).
4. Generating New Eco-Friendly Ideas
Because AI is a form of intelligent technology that can learn and decipher information, it may prove useful in generating new and innovative ideas that can help tackle climate change.
For example, an AI system could be fed data on current energy use methods, as well as the technology available in our modern day and the environmental goals we wish to reach. Then, the system could list some options for smarter energy production that could lower resource usage and carbon emissions and possibly even save money.
For example, AI could be used to map out a way for the public tosave energy at homeor give companies more effective ways to run machinery, transport goods, and more. AI could even be integrated intoeco-focused appsso that users can find new ways to reduce their carbon footprint in their day-to-day lives.
While we already have human experts that can help in this field, the sheer amount of data that AI systems can consume and their ability to notice patterns and seek solutions makes them a promising candidate in our bid to be kinder on our planet.
5. Providing Environmental Hazard Warnings
A frightening consequence of climate change is the increasing frequency of natural disasters, such as floods and forest fires. These events can be devastating and can claim many lives, so it’s crucial that we have technology in place to monitor the planet and alert the relevant parties of any impending threats.
Again, predictive AI could be beneficial here.
Artificial intelligence could be used in sensory equipment, surveillance gear, and similar technology to learn the natural patterns of different environments and then raise the alarm if something has changed. For example, an AI tool could monitor weather systems, predict or report rainfall, warn of high temperatures in arid forests, and more.
On the topic of climate change-fueled crises, AI may have the potential to carve out effective evacuation, rescue, or rebuilding plans in the event of a disaster. For instance, AI could be used to find suitable evacuation routes or could assist architects in building more disaster-resistant infrastructure to mitigate damage should such an event take place again.
The Environmental Downside of AI
Though there are many ways through which AI could help us fight climate change, this technology is already doing damage.
Developing and testing AI systems takes time and energy. TheMIT Technology Reviewreports that a single AI model can emit up to 626,000 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent, the same as five average American cars' total lifetime CO2 emissions.
It’s important to note here that, for all its possible benefits, creating AI technology most certainly has a large carbon footprint, which contributes significantly to our current climate problem.
AI May Help Us Save the Planet
While AI is still somewhat in its early stages, there’s no doubt that it could play a major role in mitigating climate change.
Though AI can’t solve the climate crisis alone, integrating it into our eco-friendly practices could make a big difference in how things play out. In the near future, we may see this technology make some huge strides toward cooling our planet, though its environmental impact must also be acknowledged and possibly mitigated as AI becomes more prevalent.
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