For years Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence based technologies promise to change or disrupt the world for the better. PwC predicted in 2018 that in the upcoming years Artificial Intelligence technologies will ‘come down to earth’ and make a difference for individuals. But if that is the case, then I wonder if Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain will also make a difference in a specific area where two of the most pressing world problems, the energy transition and poverty come together: the energy industry in developing countries.
Shifting to innovative sources of energy as well as other low carbon solutions has been proven to be very difficult even to the richest companies and governments in the world. That made me wonder how difficult this transition must be for the least developing countries. In most cases, the governments and companies of these countries lack the technology, money and policies to govern a sustainable energy transition. At the same time, specifically these areas will be impacted most by the consequences of climate change, such as draught and rising water levels. A good example is Cape Town, South Africa, where the whole city was almost without water, due to low water levels in their surrounding dams. At the same time, their government needs to product the city from rising water levels as well.
However, within this challenge, there is opportunity to start enjoying new energy particularly in areas where not much investment is done in the fossil technologies. If we look specifically at the technological challenge, good first steps have already been made. For instance, Artificial Intelligence has made SMART Grids possible, by predicting their maintenance needs and the renewable energy output. At the same time Blockchain technology helps modernizing grids by rerouting power in case of emergencies. Also, blockchain technology enables individual households who can generate and store electricity to enter automated, peer-to-peer transactions with other households or sell power back into the grid at the market price.
This shows that both technologies could help poor families get access to renewable, affordable and reliable sources of energy, especially in combination with Solar technology. But will it be enough? Let me know what you think in the comments!
Sources:
https://www.pwc.es/es/publicaciones/tecnologia/assets/ai-predictions-2018.pdf
http://conferencefora.com/public/uploads/57d87b45747c4fce4c82035ffa9343a3-01-10.pdf
https://blogs.adb.org/blog/4-ways-blockchain-will-disrupt-energy-sector
https://www.disruptordaily.com/ai-disrupting-energy-industry/
