Can AI get the world to net zero faster?

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are helping the energy industry accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future. The Energy Podcast explores how AI is being used today and discusses how to unleash its potential.

Presented by Eno Alfred-Adeogun. Featuring Kate Kallot, founder and CEO of Amini, Bob Flint, CEO of Mirico and Amy Challen, Shell’s global head of AI.

Additional reporting by Claire François and Berry Mulder.

The Energy Podcast is a Fresh Air Production for Shell, produced by Annie Day and Sarah Moore and edited by Eno Alfred-Adeogun.

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Eno Alfred-Adeogun: Today on The Energy Podcast.

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Audio: I will be working alongside humans to provide assistance  and  support  and  will  not  be  replacing  any  existing  jobs.

You sure about that, Grace?

Yes, I am sure.

00:00:20

Eno Alfred-Adeogun: That’s Nurse Grace speaking at the  world's  first  robot  press  conference  last  year.  And yes, she’s a robot. Powered  by  artificial  intelligence  this humanoid can diagnose illness, deliver  treatments,  and  even  offer  patients  emotional  support.  Impressive, right?  Well, yes, but she’s just one  of  many  examples  of  AI-enabled  machines  designed  to  address  some  of  the  world's  biggest  challenges;  social  care,  disease,  hunger,  and  probably  sooner  than  you  think.  Consider how deeply AI is  already  entwined  in  so  much  of  our  daily  lives.  From  work  commutes …

00:01:03

Audio: You’ve arrived at your destination.

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Eno Alfred-Adeogun: ...  to virtual learning …

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Audio: (foreign language).

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Eno Alfred-Adeogun: ...  to, " Alexa, what’s on my to- do list?"

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Audio: Subscribe to The Energy Podcast.

00:01:14

Eno Alfred-Adeogun: A global AI revolution isn’t  coming, it’s already here.  So, could this rapidly advancing  technology  also  tackle  the pressing challenge of lowering emissions? Hello, I’m Eno Alfred-Adeogun, and today  on  The  Energy  Podcast  we  ask,  can  AI  get  the  world  to  net- zero  faster?

Joining me to discuss this  is  Kate  Kallot,  founder  and  CEO  of  the  African  tech  startup  Amini.  Bob  Flint,  CEO  of  methane  emission  monitoring  company  Mirico.  And  Shell's  global  head  of  artificial  intelligence,  Amy  Challen.  It’s really great to  have  you  all  on  the  episode  today.

Now, before we delve  into  the  world  of  AI,  a  really  helpful  place  to  begin  is  defining  what  it  actually  is.  Because by the number  of  definitions  I  found  when  researching  this  episode,  that's  actually  harder  to  do  than  it  sounds.  So let’s briefly see  if  we  can  reach  a  consensus  of  what  it  actually  is.  Kate, coming to you  first.

00:02:20

Kate Kallot: For me, I have  one  simple  definition  of  AI, which  is  going  to  literally  take  one  sentence.  It is the science to  make  computers  think  and  take  actions  like  humans.

00:02:30

Eno Alfred-Adeogun: Love it.  Brilliant.  Brilliant.  Amy, what about you?  Can you add to  that?

00:02:34

Amy Challen: I think I’m going  to  give  a  more  boring  answer.  I often think about  it  compared  to  software.  In software, we write  the  rules.  We say, " If this happens,  then  that  happens,"  and  we  define  what  that  rule  is.  But AI works differently.  We give AI a  load  of  historical  data,  and  we  say, " You  tell  us  what  happens  based  on  the  patterns  you've  observed  in  the  past."  And so it can  be  a  bit  of  surprise  what  it  comes  up  with.  The other thing to  watch  out  for  is  that  if  our  historical  data  is  biased,  if  the  world  has  changed,  then  we're  going  to  see  that  in  the  model.  So we have to  be  quite  careful.

00:03:10

Eno Alfred-Adeogun: Okay.  Bob, no pressure.  We’ve got two great answers.  Do you have anything to  add  onto  the  definition?

00:03:16

Bob Flint: Yeah, I get to go last.  I think all of the  above,  plus  extending  into  areas  where  humans  aren't  necessarily  good,  which  is  looking  at  huge  volumes  of  data.  So being able to process all  the  bits  and  bytes  that  come  from  sensors  from  the  real  world  and  floods  of  information  like  you  would  find  in  an  oil  and  gas  company  and  process  that  in  super  high  speed.

00:03:40

Eno Alfred-Adeogun: Okay,  so now that’s clear, we  can  turn  our  attention  to  how  the  energy  sector  is  actually  harnessing  the  power  of  AI.  So, Bob, your company, Mirico, it  monitors  emissions,  and  then  companies  can  pair  the  data  that  you  gather  with  AI,  which  can  then  help  to  combat  the  emissions  found.  Can you share some good  examples  of  this  pairing  in  action?

00:04:06

Bob Flint: What we do is primarily we address the issue  of  methane  emissions  from  energy.  And  methane  is  about  30  times  worse  than  carbon  dioxide  for  global  warming,  so it’s something that we  all  should  be  concerned  about. The good news is  if  you  stop  emitting  methane,  the  world  starts  to  cool  pretty  much  immediately  because  methane  just  decomposes  in  the  atmosphere.  So that’s why it’s  so  important.  So we scan an  area,  say,  an  oil  and  gas  facility,  for  those  emissions.  Measurement leads to action,  leads  to  reduction,  and  we  can  then  put  that  data  into  one  of  Shell's  systems  of  record,  say  a  digital  twin.

00:04:48

Eno Alfred-Adeogun: On the digital twin,  because  that's  another  concept  I  feel  like  I've  read  a  lot  about  as  well.  Could you just expand  on  what  that  is?

00:04:54

Bob Flint: A digital twin would  be  a  replica  of  something  in  the  real  world,  a  refinery,  a  rig  and  it  sits  in  silico,  in  a  computer  rather  than  in  the  physical  world.  So that would enable  you  to,  for  example,  start  making  predictions  or  what-if  type  of  questions  on  what  might  happen  in  the  real  world  in  circumstances  which  you  wouldn't  want  to  see.  So you might predict  what  happens  if  I  change  temperatures  and  pressures  in  a  way  that  might  be  dangerous.  Well, I can do  that  in  a  computer.  I wouldn’t want to  do  that  in  the  real  world.

00:05:30

Eno Alfred-Adeogun: Now, considering the ambitious  climate  targets  that  have  been  set  worldwide,  it's  really  no  wonder  that  people  are  looking  to  AI  for  solutions.  Amy, what would you  say  are  the  main  ways  that  AI  is  enabling  a  low-carbon  energy  system?

00:05:47

Amy Challen: I think there are&