How digital twins and artificial intelligence can power a sustainable future

Sustainability is a top priority for all organizations today – for example, a third of Europe’s largest companies have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, according to Accenture. However, the company also found that companies must significantly accelerate their efforts over the next decade, as only 9% of companies are currently on track to achieve this goal.

One way organizations can reach net zero and address other sustainability efforts is through the combined power of digital twins and artificial intelligence. These technologies provide businesses with unparalleled insights into their operations, which can inform sustainability improvements and help them achieve their climate goals. For example, digital twins can be used to test various scenarios and help companies determine the best strategies to reduce energy consumption and emissions.

Technological Advances Accelerate Digital Twin Adoption

Of course, digital twins are already being deployed in a variety of ways. For example, helping healthcare researchers create highly accurate models of hearts, lungs or other organs to improve clinical diagnosis, education and training. The energy industry also offers many use cases for digital twins, including building digital models to guide oil drilling efforts in real time.

But recent technological advances in simulation and modeling capabilities, increased deployment of IoT sensors, and more widely available computing infrastructure mean businesses can increase their reliance on digital twins. When organizations use AI to enhance digital twins, they can realize additional benefits—for example, running simulations to investigate “what-if” scenarios and gain a deeper understanding of cause-and-effect relationships.

There are many examples of how these technologies enhance operations, including their ability to inform a greener world. With that in mind, here are some use cases that demonstrate how digital twins and AI can drive sustainability improvements across industries.

SMART MANUFACTURING

By 2025, 89% of IoT platforms will include digital twins, transforming how industrial and manufacturing facilities operate and providing fine-grained insights to enhance sustainability s hard work. Examples include:

• Investigate ways to reduce energy consumption by gaining a deeper understanding of where energy losses occur
• Use predictive analytics to determine how to reduce emissions by making various changes
• Conduct risk assessments to identify operational weaknesses that could lead to incidents with environmental impact

GE Digital is an organization pioneering the use of digital twins and artificial intelligence to improve sustainability . Through its autonomous tuning software, the company creates a digital twin of the gas turbine to find optimal flame temperatures and fuel splits. The technology senses environmental and physical degradation changes in real time, facilitating automatic adjustments to ensure the gas turbine operates efficiently with low emissions and noise levels. Through this technology, the power plant can reduce carbon monoxide by 14% and nitrous oxide emissions by 10% to 14%.

Smart Cities

Urban planning, management and optimization is another area poised to be transformed by the combined power of digital twins and artificial intelligence. These smart cities offer many benefits – solving food insecurity, increasing mobility and helping identify criminal activity, to name a few. Smart cities also have a lot to offer in the form of addressing the Sustainable Development Goals.

With digital twins and artificial intelligence, city governments can understand, quantify and predict the environmental impact of their decisions, and test potential scenarios to determine which ones are best for the environment.

For example, in the UK, Transport for London (TfL) is using digital twins to collect data on noise, heat and carbon emissions across the entire Tube network. Before the technology was deployed, TfL staff could only inspect assets when the tube was closed between 1am and 5am. With the real-time network access provided by digital twins, TfL can now assess locations throughout operating hours and uncover data previously undetectable to the human eye, such as faults and thermal noise hotspots. Officials believe the project will form a key component in London's ambition to achieve a zero-carbon rail system by 2030.

As carbon neutrality becomes a priority for cities around the world, the use of digital twins and artificial intelligence is expected to increase.

INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS

Just as digital twins and artificial intelligence can help cities become more sustainable, they are increasingly being used to create smart buildings. These technologies ensure sustainability is top of mind from the outset, enabling construction managers and other stakeholders to develop virtual representations that can assess a building’s expected carbon footprint during the design phase.

This is the approach developers took when designing the Hickman Tower in London, which has become the first building in the world to receive a SmartScore Platinum rating. During construction, the digital twin connects to the building management system through various sensors, providing a comprehensive view of data such as occupancy, temperature, air quality, light levels and energy consumption. Not only does this enable developers to optimize energy performance and reduce carbon emissions, it also sets the framework for future sustainability enhancements, as these can first be simulated through Hickman’s numerical models.

Regulatory pressure is increasing on the construction industry to design greener buildings, so we can only expect more developers to follow the Hickman Tower’s lead and look to address sustainability issues before breaking new ground.

Over the past few years, becoming a more sustainable industry and ultimately one planet has been an elusive goal. But with recent advances in artificial intelligence and the growing popularity of digital twins, this vision may become a reality. Now is the time for organizations to harness the combined power of these technologies to gain insights at every stage of operations that will support a more sustainable, less carbon-intensive economy at a micro level – and a greener world overall.

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