AI in Energy; Evolution or Revolution?
Energy Gang
Wood Mackenzie
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2023
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The excitement around ChatGPT and other large language models has put AI firmly in the spotlight in recent months. Public perception is that we’re entering a new age of AI; it is a brand-new technology that promises to change our lives. In the world of energy, though, AI is not a new concept. GE was developing its AI capabilities more than a decade ago. BP invested in an AI company in 2017 to support oil exploration and production. And so far, although you can see the impact of AI in many parts of the world of energy, it has not exactly transformed the fundamentals of the industry. So when people get excited about AI in energy today, and expecting revolutionary change, are they just buying into some well-orchestrated hype?
Amy Myers-Jaffe is Director of the Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab at New York University. She joins Ed and explains the real-world benefits of automation and AI for electricity networks. Automating home energy use and business operations in conjunction with power supplies could have huge implications for energy. The gang is also joined this week by Michael Webber. Michael is the Josey Centennial Professor in Energy Resources, in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas. He’s also CTO of Energy Impact Partners, a cleantech venture fund.
Together, the team examine whether AI will transform energy and our lives in the same way the internet did. And they assess the question: is AI the tool that will ultimately open the door to a net zero energy system?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, this is The Energy Gang, a discussion show about the fast-changing world of energy. |
| 0:11.2 | I'm Idkrux. |
| 0:12.2 | Our show today is going to start off where we left off last time. |
| 0:16.2 | You may remember that for my free electron at the end of the last show, I raised the subject |
| 0:20.3 | of AI and energy. |
| 0:22.0 | And essentially I was taking a slightly skeptical view, I think I was saying that I didn't |
| 0:26.0 | really expect it to have a transformational impact on the world of energy. |
| 0:30.7 | And Melissa Lott, who was co-hosting with me at the time, said, well, I got a minute. |
| 0:34.4 | If you're going to start throwing that kind of assertion around, if you're going to talk |
| 0:37.6 | seriously about AI and energy, you really need to get a good friend and colleague Amy |
| 0:42.9 | Myers-Jaffee back on to talk about it, because that's a subject she's looked into very deeply |
| 0:47.6 | and she knows a lot about it. |
| 0:49.0 | And so that's exactly what we've done and I'm delighted, Amy, that you're able to join |
| 0:52.5 | us today. |
| 0:53.5 | Hi. |
| 0:54.5 | And I'm definitely going to hold your feet to the fire on this topic. |
| 0:58.2 | Fantastic. |
| 0:59.2 | I'm looking forward to it. |
| 1:00.2 | Amy, as regular listeners will know, is the director of the Energy Climate Justice |
| 1:04.2 | and Sustainability Lab at New York University. |
| 1:07.6 | Michael Weber is the Josie Centennial Professor in Energy Resources of the University of Texas |
| 1:12.4 | at Austin. |
... |
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