How likely is your business to succeed in being sustainable?
In times of complex challenges, it’s often difficult to say. Whatever your definition of success is, your goal is to increase the chances of achieving it – by focusing on building a lasting competitive advantage. Now, what if you could potentially increase the chance of success by 2.5? According to the World Economic Forum, companies that integrate their digital and sustainable transformations, are that much more likely to succeed in the future, compared to those who don’t.
Digitise and decarbonise. These two aims can be achieved together by using data-led technologies to advance measurable sustainability efforts and driving efficiency which keeps a business at the top of its game. The technology that has the power to help you achieve this is Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Why the route to sustainable organisations leads through AI
The power of AI lies in its ability to help you make more intelligent and better decisions that rely on hard facts and enormous amounts of data – providing operational benefits and supporting their path to sustainability. Leveraging data provides unparalleled insights to optimise energy consumption and lower carbon emissions while providing opportunities to meet broader business objectives.
Enabling a net zero future
Let’s spotlight buildings. They are responsible for 44% of global CO2 emissions. Using connected IoT devices alongside AI solutions you can now dynamically control on-site energy resources, automatically forecast and optimise how and when to consume, produce, and share energy through microgrids. Real-time insights make it easy to understand the savings, earnings, and CO2 emissions data and make further informed decisions. AI can also be used to examine complex market trends and dissect data to manage energy spend better and reduce risk in a volatile market.
What does this look like in practice?
Here’s an example. Intencity is the most efficient of Schneider Electric’s flagship buildings, located in Grenoble, France. Completely energy neutral, it is equipped with EcoStruxure Building solutions, which will allow it to interface with the other buildings in the neighborhood as part of a local network, with the possibility of opting out in the event of a high demand in electricity or a high tariff, to store the renewable energy produced, and to defer consumption in favor of neighboring buildings. The site aims for a consumption of 37 kWh/m2/year (8-9 times less than average consumption of existing buildings in Europe). A Smartgrid-ready building, IntenCity is already part of the energy landscape of tomorrow.
Projects like this demonstrate that AI is not the future; it is the strategic lever of today, delivering tangible business returns while also accelerating the journey to net zero. While so many organisations are convinced of its power, harnessing AI within their operations is still a struggle.
Collaboration across industries is imperative
AI expertise often extends beyond a company’s core competencies. While tech start-ups are often lacking data, many mature enterprise companies are sitting on vast amounts of so-called dark data (the one you know you have, but you don’t use it). In both cases, bringing in AI experts can unlock the business-relevant value of using data, ultimately making the most of data analytics and agile strategies. On the other side, domain expertise is essential for AI to deliver true value, starting by choosing the right AI projects and the right KPI’s to define success, through selecting features, training and perfecting AI models and creating ethical, unbiased algorithms.
To gain the momentum needed to seize the AI opportunity, many companies need to turn to an ecosystem of trusted partners. For example, in the Schneider Electric Exchange, efficiency-focused and AI-enabled analytics and software are becoming a key area of partnerships.
Time for good choices
It’s time to reset and revitalise connected infrastructure, eliminate energy waste, and enable renewable energy usage. It’s time for AI at scale to open doors to data-based decisions, accurate forecasting, and efficiency optimisation, that are crucial to achieve ambitious sustainability goals. The countdown is on for good choices to be made. It starts with getting the right brains – both artificial and human – supporting digitalisation that can boost our businesses and contribute to save our planet.
