AI in the Fight Against Climate Change

Humans consume over 100 million barrels of oil a day whilst the reserves are only being replenished at a meagre 2% of that rate. This results in 1.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere each year worldwide: an unsustainable practice in dire need of change to avoid detrimental impact to our environment. However, at the forefront of innovation, Artificial Intelligence is shaping our vision of energy diversification and reduced emissions.

Last week, Energy titan Shell announced a partnership with Microsoft which aims to reduce Shell’s carbon footprint to zero by 2025. Seemingly unattainable particularly for a fossil fuel giant, this project should still have more potential than Shell’s previous attempts to reduce carbon emissions. Not coming directly after a major environmental disaster, this partnership is not merely to amend their reputation.

Shell Service Station   Source: Offshore Technology

Shell Service Station

Source: Offshore Technology

In the next month, Microsoft will send a team of AI specialists to operate within Shell and implement Microsoft’s Azure Platform. The operation was intended to act as a “sensor fabric” according to Microsoft’s executive vice president, Joseph Althoff, which models all of Shell’s operations detecting where CO2 is emitted in the process. Ideally, the AI algorithms will be able to compute potential solutions for the high emission processes in Shell’s oil production including being able to prevent oil spills and leaks in pipes during its transportation. This should be achieved by close digital monitoring of the temperature and pressure of the oil and the condition of the pipes for which the artificial intelligence will autonomously detect issues and subsequently alert Shell. Shell is also keen to use Azure to improve the safety of on-site staff possibly using Azure to record the corrosion rate of protective equipment worn by workers in hazardous environments. Project Azure is a long-run investment by Shell and alterations to Shell’s drilling operations are unlikely to change drastically soon but should become more efficient over the coming years instead. 

However, will Shell ever be able to declare itself a carbon-neutral company? Even if Shell manages to negate all carbon emissions from production, it would be ironic for them to call themselves carbon neutral when the consumption of the oil they are selling is currently the main contributor to climate change. Nonetheless, artificial intelligence has great potential to innovate the ways in which even the largest, most successful companies carry out their work in a more environmentally friendly manner. The only way in which we can completely curb our use of fossil fuels is by reducing our own consumer demand for products which run on oil and look towards renewable energy sources instead. Shell is part of a worldwide movement engaged in attempting to lessen the detrimental human effects to the environment and could pave the way for other smaller businesses to adopt AI in a quest to save our planet.

Information Source: Forbes

Thumbnail Source: Unsplash

EnergyHenry Fieldsend