Artificial intelligence: the solution to new energy problems it has also partially created.
“It is difficult to overstate the potential of AI in the fight against climate change,” as Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Adnoc chief executive Dr Sultan Al Jaber wrote recently in Project Syndicate.
But the sector’s rampant electricity consumption is straining grids and threatens to raise coal and gas consumption and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions.
The effect of AI on energy will play out over three timescales.
At least in the short-term, it will raise energy demand. And, if low-carbon energy and efficiency don’t keep up, that inevitably means increasing greenhouse gas emissions. At the moment, AI computing accounts for less than 1 per cent of global emissions – that could grow substantially, but by how much depends on the speed of its advance and the choices we make.
Google has a goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Yet since 2019, its emissions have leapt 48 per cent – and most of that is driven by expanded data centres and AI. Its 14.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide last year was more than the entire release of the Baltic nation of Estonia. This is despite running its operations now on 64 per cent low-carbon electricity – using renewable and nuclear power.
In the medium term, AI promises untold gains in the size, efficiency and cleanliness of energy production and use.
Dr Al Jaber’s commentary mentions gains in balancing variable renewable generation, identifying molecular structures that trap carbon dioxide, cutting water use while boosting crop yields and “breakthroughs in fusion, hydrogen, and modular nuclear power [as well as] long-term battery storage”.
He has convened a “Change Makers Majlis” in Abu Dhabi in November to discuss AI and the energy transition.
A team at Innovation for Cool Earth Forum, chaired by my Columbia University colleague David Sandalow, has extensively characterised other opportunities.
The more dramatic opportunities fall into three rough categories: optimising and automating complex systems; spotting patterns and connections in large data-sets; and designing and simulating otherwise impossible technologies.
In the first group come opportunities such as matching renewable generation in combination with weather forecasting, demand, home heating and cooling, battery storage and electric vehicle charging. Reducing the financial and mental burden of lowering emissions and saving energy costs could help ease some of the political pushback against net-zero policies.
The second group includes research, bringing together the vast published literature in ways beyond any individual scientist. AI systems can test substantial numbers of designs for advanced batteries, carbon capture materials, or catalysts for biofuels or hydrogen, and pick out the most promising for further work. Already in 2022, Deep Mind, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet, unveiled a system to predict the structure of 200 million proteins.
Such systems can monitor global greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage in near real-time. They can trawl through large data sets of remote sensing, geochemistry, seismic images of the surface, magnetic, radioactive and gravitational readings, to find new deposits of hydrocarbons and critical energy minerals such as rare earths, uranium, lithium and copper.
KoBold Metals, a start-up backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, mining firm BHP and Norwegian state oil champion Equinor, claims to have used AI to find a large copper deposit in Zambia, which the country’s President said could become one of the world’s three biggest.
The third area could include such things as simulating nuclear fusion. This inexhaustible clean energy source requires us to harness plasma at temperatures of a hundred million degrees, confine it within intense magnetic fields, and keep the reaction going stably without melting the containing chamber. Models might predict room-temperature superconductors that would eliminate losses in electricity transmission.
AI computing will also grow more energy-efficient. Combining such opportunities means that in the medium term, energy use will be better directed, supply will be enhanced and reduced in cost, and potentially emissions will fall significantly – with the right choices of policy.
Beyond these and heading into the long-term – the 2050s and beyond – are the imponderables.
We hear often that it only requires “political will” to beat climate change and that we have all the technologies we need. Instead of purveying the dark arts of electoral manipulation salted with big data from social media, could AI simulate whole societies and economies, to help design and introduce climate-friendly policies that win wide acceptance?
Some of the more ambitious claims for AI suggest an intelligence that would surpass that of humans in almost all aspects by the 2030s.
Would such a creation prioritise highly effective climate action? Or would it reflect the attitudes of its creators, perhaps a trillionaire, corporation or country that cared little for the well-being of billions of vulnerable people?
But we can be certain of one thing: this AI world will require much more energy than today. This could be superintelligences, humanoid robots, globe-spanning climate clean-up systems, simulations of the whole of society, off-world industry, extraplanetary colonisation or other undreamt-of developments. The trend of technology is always to require more and better energy, even as it gets more efficient and cleaner.
The Gulf countries could be among the big beneficiaries: they have money, growing technical expertise, and the priority for AI, to apply to it to many of their key challenges.
Relatively cheap, clean and abundant energy will be helpful in building computing power, partly offset by the extra need for cooling versus more temperate climes.
With a relatively small population relative to their economies and energy resources, they will benefit disproportionately from multiplying the effectiveness of their people. Adnoc has taken steps in this regard, in its AIQ joint venture with Abu Dhabi-based AI company G42, and its cross-shareholding with big data analytics firm Presight.
Success depends on building expertise, meshing artificial with the best of human intelligence, and reaching and expanding the frontier of knowledge.
It also requires much more and better data for training systems. This is one area where the Gulf needs to improve: rather than hoarding information to preserve private empires in the name of national security, data from the energy sector and many other areas must be available, reliable, transparent and organised.
Competitors, whether rival energy producers or competing energy sources and methods are not sitting idly at their keyboards.
For now, AI represents an improvement in the industry and an opportunity for energy sales.
But in the long-term – whether 30 years or 30 months in the AI world – it will transform the energy business.
Robin M. Mills is chief executive of Qamar Energy and author of The Myth of the Oil Crisis
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
The Beach Bum
Director: Harmony Korine
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg
Two stars
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
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About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
Expert advice
“Join in with a group like Cycle Safe Dubai or TrainYAS, where you’ll meet like-minded people and always have support on hand.”
Stewart Howison, co-founder of Cycle Safe Dubai and owner of Revolution Cycles
“When you sweat a lot, you lose a lot of salt and other electrolytes from your body. If your electrolytes drop enough, you will be at risk of cramping. To prevent salt deficiency, simply add an electrolyte mix to your water.”
Cornelia Gloor, head of RAK Hospital’s Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy Centre
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can ride as fast or as far during the summer as you do in cooler weather. The heat will make you expend more energy to maintain a speed that might normally be comfortable, so pace yourself when riding during the hotter parts of the day.”
Chandrashekar Nandi, physiotherapist at Burjeel Hospital in Dubai
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Results
Male 51kg Round 1
Dias Karmanov (KAZ) beat Mabrook Rasea (YEM) by points 2-1.
Male 54kg Round 1
Yelaman Sayassatov (KAZ) beat Chen Huang (TPE) TKO Round 1; Huynh Hoang Phi (VIE) beat Fahad Anakkayi (IND) RSC Round 2; Qais Al Jamal (JOR) beat Man Long Ng (MAC) by points 3-0; Ayad Albadr (IRQ) beat Yashar Yazdani (IRI) by points 2-1.
Male 57kg Round 1
Natthawat Suzikong (THA) beat Abdallah Ondash (LBN) by points 3-0; Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Ahmed Al Jubainawi (IRQ) by points 2-1; Hamed Almatari (YEM) beat Nasser Al Rugheeb (KUW) by points 3-0; Zakaria El Jamari (UAE) beat Yu Xi Chen (TPE) by points 3-0.
Men 86kg Round 1
Ahmad Bahman (UAE) beat Mohammad Al Khatib (PAL) by points 2-1
Men 63.5kg Round 1
Noureddin Samir (UAE) beat Polash Chakma (BAN) RSC Round 1.
Female 45kg quarter finals
Narges Mohammadpour (IRI) beat Yuen Wai Chan (HKG) by points.
Female 48kg quarter finals
Szi Ki Wong (HKG) beat Dimple Vaishnav (IND) RSC round 2; Thanawan Thongduang (THA) beat Nastaran Soori (IRI) by points; Shabnam Hussain Zada (AFG) beat Tzu Ching Lin (TPE) by points.
Female 57kg quarter finals
Nguyen Thi Nguyet (VIE) beat Anisha Shetty (IND) by points 2-1; Areeya Sahot (THA) beat Dana Al Mayyal (KUW) RSC Round 1; Sara Idriss (LBN) beat Ching Yee Tsang (HKG) by points 3-0.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
BOSH!'s pantry essentials
Nutritional yeast
This is Firth's pick and an ingredient he says, "gives you an instant cheesy flavour". He advises making your own cream cheese with it or simply using it to whip up a mac and cheese or wholesome lasagne. It's available in organic and specialist grocery stores across the UAE.
Seeds
"We've got a big jar of mixed seeds in our kitchen," Theasby explains. "That's what you use to make a bolognese or pie or salad: just grab a handful of seeds and sprinkle them over the top. It's a really good way to make sure you're getting your omegas."
Umami flavours
"I could say soya sauce, but I'll say all umami-makers and have them in the same batch," says Firth. He suggests having items such as Marmite, balsamic vinegar and other general, dark, umami-tasting products in your cupboard "to make your bolognese a little bit more 'umptious'".
Onions and garlic
"If you've got them, you can cook basically anything from that base," says Theasby. "These ingredients are so prevalent in every world cuisine and if you've got them in your cupboard, then you know you've got the foundation of a really nice meal."
Your grain of choice
Whether rice, quinoa, pasta or buckwheat, Firth advises always having a stock of your favourite grains in the cupboard. "That you, you have an instant meal and all you have to do is just chuck a bit of veg in."
MATCH INFO
England 19 (Try: Tuilagi; Cons: Farrell; Pens: Ford (4)
New Zealand 7 (Try: Savea; Con: Mo'unga)
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Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
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Company%C2%A0profile
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Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 290hp
Torque: 340Nm
Price: Dh155,800
On sale: now
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Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
