How AI will Facilitate the Implementation of Renewable Energy Sources in Business

One big question I had when I began conducting this research was, what changes will be necessary to make renewable energy available to all types of businesses? Based on a study done by Michael L. Polemis and Achilleas Spais, it seems as though AI will be the main driver in helping to make renewable energy sources available to every business. Their study was conducted in Greece and focused on how investments in renewable energy sources were correlated with other variables. They compared variables such as the contribution of AI, experience, and cons. They mainly targeted small and medium enterprises in Greece because they make up the vast majority of the private sector of the economy.

What did they Find?

As they discovered in the study, “Also, we can easily observe that in the 50th quantile (median) of the RES share, investors are more affected by their positive attitude towards AI … In other words, investors’ attitude towards AI has the strongest impact on the median quantile of RES share distribution.” (Polemis & Spais, 2020) This demonstrates that the correlation between a positive attitude towards AI and investment in renewable energy sources is very strong. This finding is crucial for a plan of implementation of renewable energy sources as the norm in businesses. This helps because now AI and renewable energy companies can work in conjunction to create the change necessary to help the planet.

How will AI be Used?

They also explain that “the contribution of AI is expected to accelerate the transition to a decentralized electricity system where smaller (megawatt‐hour) renewable energy producers will have the possibility to incorporate their production units in a broad electricity grid.” (Polemis & Spais, 2020) In other words, AI will be pivotal in the implementation of renewable energy sources in businesses. This means that as more businesses start to make the change to renewable energy sources they will rely on AI to make the change simpler and cheaper for their company. I believe these findings are a great answer to my initial question. The development of AI will not only make renewable energy sources more available to all businesses, but it will create a whole new sector of jobs.

What Does This Mean for the Future?

This conjunction between renewable energy and AI will push the business world into the future. Many businesses will be developing in two sectors simultaneously, and although that may be difficult it will help make the necessary changes faster and more effectively. This is also very important because it now opens the door to many smaller companies, as renewable energy costs decrease due to technological advancements. I believe that this information proves that going forward we have a feasible option of making renewable energy sources available to all businesses. The sooner we implement AI into renewable energy sources, the sooner we will see the necessary changes for our planet.

References:

Polemis, M & Spais, A (2020). Disentangling the drivers of renewable energy investments: The role of behavioral factors. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29 (6), 2170–2180