Net zero product discovery

I really want to talk about changing the way we do business. And I mean radically changing it, so that businesses can flourish while at the same time protecting communities and taking care of the environment. Is that too much to ask? I think not – in this article I’ll explain how and why AI is ready to drive a more sustainable yet commercially successful future.

Decarbonising aviation is a herculean task. Even an aircraft as fuel efficient as Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner uses 30 tonnes of kerosene to fly across the Atlantic. Batteries can’t be expected to achieve the power to weight ratio needed to replace this fuel. For all the interest in green hydrogen and related synthetic fuels it will be decades before a truly zero-carbon airliner can be expected to be carrying passengers.

CC put forward a team to take part in the British Antarctic Survey’s Decarbonisation Hackathon. The aim was to find new solutions to completely decarbonise the Rothera research base in Antarctica, beyond those that British Antarctic Survey (BAS) had determined could account for the first 70% of their energy demand.

With the Cop26 summit in Glasgow providing a noisy, politically charged backdrop via the mainstream media, there was a real sense of relevance and urgency in the air as I contributed to last week’s virtual REAP Conference, organised by Agri-TechE.