Air pollution is responsible for almost 7 million premature deaths each year.
With more than 97% of homes in the UK exposed to low-quality air, it’s imperative to start using every resource at our disposal to reduce pollution as much as possible.
The good news is that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to accelerate the efforts to establish a more sustainable country.
Here are nine ways that AI can lead to a more sustainable United Kingdom.
1. Support in agriculture
While ancient practices have always respected the environment, large-scale farming has led the entire industry in the opposite direction. AI aims to bring agriculture back on a sustainable path.
Advancements like agricultural robotics, advanced weather monitoring models, and land management algorithms are already allowing many farmers to protect natural resources while farming their land.
2. Preparation for natural disasters
Floods, forest fires, and other natural disasters are becoming more common. Fortunately, AI can help predict these issues through advanced models.
Devices known as “electronic noses” can be installed in forests and similar areas prone to natural fires to alert authorities as soon as the earliest phases of fire are detected, which would help prevent another summer like 2019.
3. Monitoring of geography and wildlife
Changes to the geography and wildlife migration patterns can help scientists predict and halt subsequent changes that usually have a bigger impact.
Neural networks, computer vision, and AI-controlled satellites can contribute to and accelerate the analysis of these variables, which can unveil environmental patterns faster than ever before.
4. Purification of air and water
Air pollution is a serious problem worldwide, and the UK is no exception.
AI-powered alert systems can help warn lawmakers when air pollution is hitting critical stages to help them address the issue through legislation.
Likewise, AI-powered systems can help researchers identify the most polluted water bodies and prepare solutions to address these issues.
5. Safer online experiences
When it comes to sustainability, the environment takes most of the focus–and rightfully so.
However, it’s also important to ensure a high quality of life for people who live in the UK, as only then will they accept and support a focus on sustainability as a whole.
Fortunately, AI is also contributing to this end.
AI-powered security systems will help reduce cybercrime like fraud. So, while it’s still important to have a reliable VPN Chrome extension, artificial intelligence can lead to a safer online experience.
6. Minimisation of waste in manufacturing
The UK is an industrialised nation, which means that it generates a significant amount of manufacturing waste. Fortunately, AI can help address this issue from an efficiency and accuracy perspective.
AI systems can help optimise energy consumption and reduce CO emissions by millions of metric tons on a yearly basis.
Not only this, but AI manufacturing machinery is more accurate
7. Improved logistics networks
With more than 67 million inhabitants, the UK has one of the largest logistic networks in the European continent.
AI can help ensure that every single logistics route is optimised and updated in real-time, which can potentially lead to a mass decrease in emissions.
Not only this, but AI can also help build better delivery schedules and keep the number of truckloads to a minimum.
8. Higher energy efficiency
The UK has a relatively high percentage of renewable energy. In Q2 of 2023, more than 42% of the country’s energy came from sustainable sources.
AI can increase that number by several points.
Artificial intelligence models can analyse energy consumption patterns to determine the best distribution system. Some studies suggest that this can increase energy efficiency by as much as 40%.
9. Seamless traffic control systems
Smart traffic management systems can help vehicles achieve the highest possible fuel efficiency. With more than 40 million registered vehicles, this could undeniably have a major impact on the gas emissions from vehicles in the UK.
Challenges of implementing AI at a large scale
Research shows that the implementation of AI in sustainable initiatives across agriculture and other areas can boost global GDP by 4.4%.
However, there are many challenges that stand between the way the UK and large scale adoption of AI for sustainability.
These include:
- The Technology is Not Quite There: While AI may be close or even capable of handling certain tasks in a test environment, there are many instances where the technology is still a few years away.
- Some Models Don’t Translate to Real-Life Scenarios: Despite the fact that some models are proven and backed by hardware powerful enough to support complex calculations, many AI models fail when applied to real-life scenarios, so they need to be re-designed from scratch.
- Scaling AI Is Resource-Intensive: Creating an AI engine is very complex, time-consuming, and expensive, not to mention the enormous amount of power required to train a model after building it from scratch.
To wrap up
The UK is known as the Emerald Island, and in order to keep it this way, it’s necessary to support sustainability initiatives through AI technology.
Better agricultural practices, improved preparedness for natural disasters, and the minimisation of waste in manufacturing are just some of the ways that AI can help contribute to a greener, more sustainable UK.
And while there are plenty of challenges ahead, AI will undoubtedly become an essential part of the long-term solution.
