After his speech at the Go Digital Energy Summit in Amsterdam (2024), the Go Digital Energy team interviewed Amit Kar, Global Digital Solutions Leader for Energies & Chemicals at Schneider Electric, to hear his thoughts on how AI can enhance energy efficiency in industrial settings.

Source: Go Digital Energy

How AI can help energy efficiency?

• Schneider Electric focuses on energy efficiency to address decarbonisation challenges.
• The company operates complex, often outdated systems lacking data-driven insights.
• AI is crucial for uncovering and quickly finding insights to reduce energy consumption.
• Human expertise remains essential, especially in dangerous environments.
• AI combined with human judgment can significantly improve energy efficiency.

Schneider Electric does a lot of different things for its customers. Right now, the focus is on energy efficiency. Most studies indicate that the world faces a huge challenge regarding decarbonisation, with half of it coming from the demand side, or how energy is used. Improving energy efficiency will contribute significantly to this effort.

The company operates very complex systems, both internally and for its customers. These complex industrial assets are often old and lack data-driven insights. There is a need to understand how to reduce energy consumption while still meeting market and societal demands.

AI plays a huge role in uncovering the insights that allow one to make the right decisions. Specifically, AI helps find those insights more quickly. However, the human-centred element is still crucial. Many of Schneider Electric's customers operate complex industrial plants in dangerous environments, often dealing with hydrocarbons. In such situations, the expertise and judgment of human experts are essential. Human-centered AI allows experts to see insights faster than they normally would, which is very important.

The goal is for human experts to use AI insights to make informed decisions. This is where AI can significantly impact energy efficiency while maintaining a human-centred approach.