To anyone who has reservations about artificial intelligence, we propose AI could very well be what saves the planet in so many ways. Eco-friendly and sustainable, AI works faster, more efficiently, controls risk, and minimizes waste.
For today and as we look to the future, the AI environmental impact is certainly something to focus on. As the business opportunities thrive in the worldwide and Canada AI market, the eco-friendly possibilities expand as well. Here are the twelve positive effects that come from AI environmental impact:
1. Impact of AI in Cities
The AI environmental impact is most notable in major cities. Cities and urban spaces host most of the world’s population and are resource-intensive. AI will play a big role in analyzing energy demands and addressing issues relating to configuring a cityscape that is the most energy-efficient it can be.
There are many ways AI can guide innovations in city design, relating to maximizing the use of existing energy and minimizing waste.
2. Impact of AI in Forests
While AI can optimize what’s going on in our cities, it can also protect our forests from illegal development. AI is exceptional at analyzing sounds, with the potential to pick up chainsaws, logging trucks, and/or gun shots in real-time.
It can also monitor movement and body heat throughout a forest, and even detect forest fire through sound and temperature. As Internet access continues to improve, AI will play a role in protecting our forests from unauthorized stakeholders.
3. Impact of AI Monitoring
AI is like the best supervisor you could ever have – or the worst, depending on how you see it. Artificial intelligence can monitor industries like construction, transportation, and high carbon wasting services, recording data on waste and energy use.
It is very well possible that AI will dominate the decision-making around renewable energy use in the decades to come.
4. Impact of AI in Cycling
AI is being used to create new bicycle networks in the city, simply by analyzing transport usage and traffic patterns. Cities like London, UK are already using AI as a means of managing congestion. Based on evidence culled from AI monitoring, the city is expanding its cycling path network accordingly.
5. Impact of AI in Buildings
AI can obtain insights in how buildings behave with energy, identifying energy demands and behaviours around temperature. For large condo complexes and commercial or industrial facilities, this opens the doors to identifying new opportunities in design for more efficient energy use.
6. Impact of AI in Transportation
Various aspects of transportation in the future will be AI-led, from new modes of public transportation to driverless cars. It is likely that the world’s most eco-friendly vehicles will be designed, optimized, and built by AI, and potentially run in part by machine learning algorithms.
7. Impact of AI Recycling
AI can sort through recycling, using sensors to identify different types of waste as it runs over a conveyor belt. Through robotic arms, it can sort recycling and record data on texture, color, shape, size, and brand. AI has been used in the United States, Canada, and Japan for this use. This improves the efficiency of recycling efforts, eliminating cross-contamination and maximizing the value of what’s collected.
8. Impact of AI in Food Waste
AI can record food waste in a way that human beings can’t. We can’t stand at every garbage can, writing down what’s being thrown out 24/7. An AI can. They’ve been used in food courts, supermarkets, and in the hospitality sector to record what’s being discarded. While this use is evolving, if adopted, AI is believed to have the potential to cut tonnes of food waste annually.
9. Impact of AI Climate Predictions
Something AI does incredibly well is predict. They use models and algorithms, and create new ones that can make more accurate predictions than what human beings can manage on average.
The result, in terms of climate change, is more accurate assessments on risk management and a range of data that can help better inform decisions on these matters.
10. Impact of AI in Seawater Protection
Our seawater is important. We must keep it as clean as we can. Unfortunately, numerous companies release sewage, chemicals, and contaminated waste in it every year.
Where AI comes in is in identify microbial contamination and recording data on tides, temperature, wind speed, rainfall, and reported events. The use of AI has the potential to revolutionize how we manage our oceans.
11. Impact of AI Species Conservation
The various species we share the environment with are under threat by development in the decades to come. AI is already helping us monitor certain species, recording sounds and monitoring movement of animals like birds, bats, mammals, and invertebrates.
It provides an effective way to accumulate hours of behavioral data, analyzing and interpreting it into automated reports.
12. Impact of AI’s Negative Environmental Impact
There’s also a dark side to using AI. It takes a lot of energy to use. Data farms can use as much energy as a small city. A recent study also shows the energy involved in training a large AI to interpret human language amounts to hundreds of thousands of kilograms in carbon dioxide equivalency. A lot of this comes down to electricity use – something which the world hasn’t yet transitioned to fully renewable resources.
