Earlier this month we ventured to the European Climate Pact Conference. Although the UK is no longer part of the European Union, we know that Europe’s forward thinking and proactiveness towards sustainability is something to be inspired by and there was plenty of thought provoking topics in discussion. One in particular stood out though, AI and the role it can play in sustainability.
Artificial intelligence is developing at such a high speed, you can’t fight it. We must go with it. And as one speaker mentioned, there is no ‘best solution’.
For all it’s positive possibilities, AI comes with its drawbacks too – just like any other technological advancement. It is up to us to weigh up what factors will supersede each other in terms of importance when it comes to finding an AI solution that’s eco-friendly.
But let’s be honest, for most of us right now, most of AI’s implications are unknown. What’s the problem with the unknown? The most common initial reaction is fear. Humans after all, are creatures of familiarity and habit.
We’ve decided to help you get a little more familiar with AI in sustainability and the sorts of impacts it’s currently having. Allowing you to make a more informed decision on the role it will play in your business in the future – because at some point, you’ll have to consider it.
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AI’s current sustainable impact
Possibly the biggest shock that we didn’t expect to hear at the European Climate Pact is that 2% of the global electricity demand at the moment can be attributed to AI. This is expected to double to 4% in 2026. In fact, an AI generated response is roughly 50-70x more carbon intensive than a Google search.
Asking AI to generate you one image, whether that’s a new logo for a rebrand you’re facing or a piece of marketing material, uses as much energy as it takes to charge your mobile phone. But it’s not just electricity.
AI also uses other resources such as water. 100 words generated through Chat GPT uses 3 bottles of water. Something that we may not consider a harmful factor as water is often treated as a renewable resource – until you discover that 62% of the water used for AI comes from drought prone areas. Significantly harming local wildlife and ecosystems.
And after all of that. Even though the greenhouse gas emissions from tech giants globally have increased roughly 600% due to AI… we’ll still end up creating electrical waste from having to replace servers and other hardware. Globally, we’re predicted to generate 1-2.5 metric million tonnes by 2030.
All of this tells us that in careless hands, the impact of AI on our planet can be astronomical. But as we mentioned earlier, you cannot fight against this type of change, only mitigate the impact that it does have.
There isn’t necessarily a ‘better’ solution. Only one that is less harmful than the other, it’s up to us to determine what that looks like.
But let’s get onto some more positive impacts before we start to dish out the information on how you can reduce AI’s impact on the environment.
The various of applications that AI can have on sustainability
While many individuals will fear that AI will replace them in their job role, this is not necessarily true. Where there is the potential for AI to replace an individual in their role, there’s the potential for another role to be created looking after and programming the tech. Human intervention is still essential.
We’re not at a place where AI is an exact science, much like carbon calculations. Technology cannot capture everything. You’ll only fall behind everyone else if you refuse to embrace any part of AI. Learn how AI can be an asset for you and your business while keeping environmental impacts as a minimum now, to get ahead down the line.
Health sectors for example are using AI to recognise features in imagery to help detect cancer diagnosis and protein structures.
AI manages transportation routes to keep traffic to a minimum which in turn reduces the carbon footprint of people on their daily commute to the office.
Using AI to forecast energy supplies and renewable energy usage heavily reduces the impact of energy. It costs to store energy, it’s not something that is stored with zero impact to the environment, so understanding demand is a great way to help the environment.
In buildings, AI can help determine the use of heating and cooling systems to ensure there’s never a need for a surge in keeping office spaces comfortable for employees.
Then even in rural areas, AI is able to have a positive impact. Improving production rates, reducing resources for watering crops and there’s even the potential to minimise waste.
All of these areas are using AI to create an efficient world. However there needs to be plenty of mindfulness on the matter if they are to avoid feeding into the giant carbon footprint that AI has the potential for.
How to use AI in a responsible and sustainable way
The definition of sustainability is often blurred at the best of times. However, at the European Climate Pact it was brilliantly put. The input must be less or equal to than the output.
So if you’re using AI in your workplace, understanding the balance between input and output can be a struggle. There are moments when AI can be extremely useful, reducing a task that would typically take an hour into just a few minutes. But is time the most valuable resource for the planet? We’d argue not.
Instead, we’ll be adopting a different ethos to AI usage in the office. If it isn’t essential, and it can be done by a human, in a timeframe that won’t implicate the workings of the business, we won’t be using AI. Making our lives easier at every turn isn’t worth the impact it has on the environment.
We’re prepared to face a challenge in our day-to-day work life, the planet is not prepared for the impact that AI will potentially have in the next few years. So we’re doing our bit by starting to reduce our usage now.
