fighting climate change

Fighting Climate Change with Artificial Intelligence

Climate change is one of the most severe challenges that the world faces. If not looked upon, climate change can pose a severe threat to the ecological balance of this planet.

To understand the issue at hand better, let us first understand what Climate Change is.

Climate Change is an observed increase in global temperature that has been identified over time. While the gradual increase in temperature may not seem much of a big deal, it will lead to more extreme events like hurricanes, tornados, floods, etc. The credit for this rising temperature goes to rising greenhouse gasses, majorly Carbon Dioxide.

Artificial Intelligence is one of the tools that can be used to tackle this problem. Machine Learning and Data Analytics can prove to be of great use to manage Climate Change and its issues as a large amount of relevant data can be extracted from the collected structured and unstructured data like maps, graphs, and images. 

Then, the extracted data can be analyzed with algorithms and statistics to understand the dynamics of the events taking place or predict future events.

With the assistance of Artificial Intelligence, we as a species can mitigate the issue of Climate Change, and because of this, it will be one of our main weapons for fighting climate change.

How can Artificial Intelligence help us fighting climate change?

Artificial Intelligence can help companies increase renewable energy sources

Artificial Intelligence, as of now, is being used by many power grids across the globe to monitor, detect patterns and save energy. These are the so called smart-grids, which are posed to be one of the main cornerstones of the cities of the future.

Alongside that, solar, hydro, etc. projects have also taken leverage of this technology. An entire city’s electrical supply can be managed through the implementation of complex AI techniques. Many countries such as the US, UK, Russia, Germany, France, etc. rely on the usage of AI for efficient power management. The same can also be implemented to obtain peak efficiency in the aforementioned energy sources.

Management of electricity consumption by designing more energy-efficient buildings

Similar to the previous application that catered to the needs of power grids, AI can also be deployed for the creation of energy efficient designs. Taking efficiency into account, we can use AI to enhance the flow of energy in conduits, reservoirs, circuits, and all other possible structures that can help us transport energy from one point to the other.

Real estate is one such domain that can use AI and its concepts to create better housing designs that can use building materials efficiently. Implementation of such nature can cut down emission levels drastically and prove to be very helpful in fighting climate change.

Optimising the energy output by determining the factors that affect the demand for energy the most

Using a combination of AI and IoT, houses can now be equipped with devices that operate on cloud technology. It basically uses the concepts of AI and Machine Learning. Such devices can sense human presence and can operate automatically. This in turn will help save electricity and will also help save the device from constant wear and tear. Such devices can also run on low energy as they can be calibrated for more efficient usage.

Predicting catastrophic events

fighting climate change with artificial intelligence

AI can also come handy in detecting natural disasters, their effects, probable causes and possibilities of them happening again. Furthermore, it can help meteorologists study the change in atmospheric conditions that might turn out to be harmful for the planet. It can also help us in predicting the average damage to property as well as loss of life in any given region.

Thus, AI can help us detect and generate warnings for natural anomalies such as Tsunamis, Hurricanes, Earthquakes, etc.

AI can help manage the inefficiencies in energy consumption

AI has been able to create designs that not only help save energy but help transport the same efficiently. Energy that was spent in drainage can now be conserved with efficient designs and reservoirs. It can also help track any leakage in the system. This information can not only help rectify the existing systems but also help create better ones.

Artificial Intelligence enables us to check and control the emissions caused by vehicles and industries

As the name suggests, AI can help track down emission levels that arise from industries, vehicles, war zones. volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis. hurricanes. etc. Using this data, we can study the nature of the contaminant over a given area for a span of time. Furthermore, we can also detect and warn people about the Air Quality Index of a city.

Right measures can be taken to solve the level of contamination with the help from the data obtained by the deployment of AI and Machine Learning.

Artificial Intelligence can be used to check the spread of diseases

It might come as a surprise but the recent change in climate has also given rise to many ailments in human beings and animals alike. Respiratory problems in cities have become common due to rising pollution levels. Furthermore, the contamination of water has also given rise to diseases in third world countries. Livestock is also getting affected by catching diseases from contaminants. AI can help predict the rate of infection as well as the next possible mutation that might take place amidst an outbreak. It can also help us study the causes and effects of such ailments with extreme precision.

Along with all the benefits that Artificial Intelligence can bring forward to deal with the problem of Climate Change, it can itself become complementary to it if not used with proper skill and knowledge. The government is also showing interest and investing in Artificial Intelligence to make skilled professionals for better research and development in the field.

Climate Change is not the only field where Artificial Intelligence is being used. Other domains like Healthcare, Education, Finance, Entertainment, etc., also use Artificial Intelligence.

With the broad scopes of use, many career opportunities are also developing in the domain. While landing one might sound like a challenging task, it has become way more accessible with the help of online education. All you have to do is choose one of the best AI courses online from great learning for yourself and start your career journey.

You can also find great books to learn from to complement these courses on our Machine Learning books category. Take a look!

Thank you for reading and have a great day!

fighting climate change