IBM’s AI-Powered Sustainable Development Tools
According to the IEA, nearly 775 million people do not have access to electricity, with the majority concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa.
Extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, can disrupt energy infrastructure and limit the potential of renewable energy sources, particularly in developing areas.
IBM has announced two artificial intelligence-powered solutions designed to inform sustainable urban development in developing regions.
The tools, unveiled at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, are the result of a collaboration between IBM and the non-profit organisation Sustainable Energy for All through IBM's Sustainability Accelerator programme.
By providing data-driven insights, IBM's new tools aim to help policymakers and urban planners make more informed decisions about energy infrastructure and resource allocation.
“Millions of people around the world don’t have basic access to electricity, and new technologies such as AI can enable us to tackle this challenge,” says Justina Nixon-Saintil, VP and Chief Impact Officer at IBM.
“Through our IBM Sustainability Accelerator program, we are using AI solutions and expertise to scale projects that support communities worldwide and promote a just and equitable access to clean energy.
“In alignment with UN SDG7, we are proud to collaborate with partners and local communities to deploy innovative solutions, including predicting urban growth to forecasting electricity access”
IBM’s Open Building Insights tool
Open Building Insights (OBI) is an interactive online platform that uses IBM Cloud.
Provides data about buildings in a map, consolidating information in a way that’s easy to understand.
Building location, height, footprint area and usage type are all displayed, supporting stakeholders to make informed decisions for more sustainable urban development.
OBI uses models created by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Open Energy Maps and IBM.
The tool was created using IBM’s watsonx AI and data platform using specific data to determine if a building is residential or non-residential, helping to determine the energy needs of an area.
IBM has made OBI free to use for the public, and it is already being used in Kenya for energy planning.
Makueni County, Kenya used the model to implement measures expected to benefit more than a million citizens by 2030.
IBM and Sustainable Energy for All will initially focus on continuing to expand OBI in India.
Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy, says: “At Sustainable Energy for All, we believe that integrating AI in the energy sector planning and evidence – especially for developing countries will go a long way in designing comprehensive solutions for many of the developmental challenges currently facing the Global South and its people.
“The OBI Tool, developed in collaboration with IBM, will help energy planners overcome critical data gap challenges to inform energy access and energy transition interventions, and better deliver results for those most in need.”
IBM’s Modelling Urban Growth tool
Modelling Urban Growth (MUG) is an open-source AI model that can predict where cities will grow using data from satellite images, geographic information, demographic data and structural data.
At its release, MUG is trained on data from 11 African countries:
- Nigeria
- Benin
- Togo
- Ghana
- Cameroon
- Uganda
- Kenya
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Tanzania
- Rwanda
- Malawi
The model is designed to be re-trained by users for any country in the world using publicly accessible data.
MUG is an AI Alliance open-source project, publicly available online.
IBM and Sustainable Energy for All hope to explore implementing the MUG AI model into its OBI tool.
"At IBM, we're proud to launch solutions that harness the power of artificial intelligence to have an impact for communities around the world," says John Matogo, Corporate Social Responsibility Leader for Africa & the Middle East at IBM.
"Collaborating with organisations such as Sustainable Energy for All through our IBM Sustainability Accelerator program helps us unlock innovation and work more closely in communities to tackle some of our biggest challenges, especially around energy and sustainable urban development."
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