One hundred experts from the fields of clean energy and artificial intelligence met at Argonne for two days to discuss how to secure America’s energy future and leadership. The AI for Energy report outlines their vision.
In the face of accelerating climate change, the U.S. aims to reduce the net carbon emissions of its economy to zero by 2050. Achieving this goal will require an unprecedented deployment of clean energy technologies. And a significant transformation of the nation’s energy infrastructure.
It is an exceptionally complex and daunting challenge. But it is not impossible if we harness the transformative capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) to help.
This is according to a groundbreaking new report issued by leading energy researchers and scientists from across America’s national laboratories. The report is titled AI for Energy. It provides a bold framework for how the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) can use AI to accelerate the nation’s clean energy transformation.
The report identifies grand challenges across five areas of the U.S. energy infrastructure. These include nuclear power, the power grid, carbon management, energy storage and energy materials. Three common needs emerged across these challenges. The first is the need for quick and highly reliable computer-aided design and testing of materials and systems. The second is the need to improve scientists’ ability to pinpoint uncertainties in their predictions and how systems will perform. The third is the need for AI to integrate data from multiple sources and formats.
If the U.S. can overcome these challenges, the benefits could be significant.
Capturing this potential will require scientists, industry players and policymakers to work together more closely than ever before. The AI for Energy report represents a strong first step. Approximately 100 experts from the fields of AI, machine learning and energy met at Argonne for two days in December 2023. Their goal was to map out how best to use AI to solve U.S. energy challenges. Attendees then worked together for three months to create the report.
The report was produced by Argonne and DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and National Energy Technology Laboratory. Additional key contributors included DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.