Why AI and digital twins could hold the keys to a sustainable future

Digital twins aren’t new, but AI is pushing what they can do. Together they transform the way products are designed, produced and maintained. The combination of the technologies provides forensic insights into our increasingly complex and interconnected world.

By deploying digital twins and AI, organizations gain granular insights into their operations, enabling them to achieve significant benefits in terms of cost savings, efficiency gains and improved sustainability efforts. Product quality is also improved through a reduction in defects and the accelerated resolution of problems throughout the life cycle. In addition, innovation is increasing due to more frequent and extensive development.

Gartner defines a digital twin as “a digital representation of a real-world entity or system. Data from multiple digital twins can be merged for a composite view of a number of real-world entities, such as a power plant or a city, and their related processes.” AI enhances digital twins, allowing the technology to look at what-if scenarios and run simulations, yielding previously unavailable insights.This enhanced situational awareness of cause and effect supports more flexible and sustainable decision-making.

The ESG imperative

Digital twins not only help to optimize business operations; they play a vital role in enabling organizations to achieve their environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives. Research by Cap Gemini found that: 57% of organizations believe that digital twin technology is critical to enhancing sustainability efforts. The digital twin provides a way to model and understand how to reduce energy consumption and emissions so that organizations can test scenarios to achieve sustainability and climate goals. And as sustainability is a global necessity, it will accelerate adoption, especially as AI is increasingly used to empower digital twins.

So let’s take a look at how digital twins and AI help improve sustainability in different environments.

smart cities

Digital twins and AI will play a vital role as cities strive to reduce their environmental impact. Together they can create a virtual emulation to help planners understand how to reduce congestion, emissions, pollution and other challenges by analyzing data from different sources and testing different variables in the virtual model.

One city pioneering this approach is: Las Vegas, which uses the technology to model future energy needs, emissions, parking, traffic and emergency management. IoT sensors collect data from cars, charging networks and municipal infrastructure into a model and scenario plan. City officials will use the insights gathered to inform ESG policies and priorities.

As more cities around the world focus on becoming carbon neutral, digital twins and AI provide a way to model and process massive amounts of data from a variety of sources so that municipalities can fully understand how different decisions and policies will affect strategic climate goals.

Smart industry

In industrial settings, digital twins provide manufacturers with a way to understand how to optimize their operations and improve sustainability. For example, the simulation can identify potential pain points, indicate where energy loss occurs and indicate opportunities to reduce consumption. The AI ​​algorithm can process data, recognize patterns and predict future outcomes well beyond human cognitive abilities. In addition, the virtual simulation reduces the waste and power associated with building physical prototypes.

By creating an emulation of a production line, manufacturers can understand how to make changes at each stage that reduce environmental impact and improve efficiency, saving costs. Unilever tested the technologies in one location and achieved $2.8 million in savings by reducing energy consumption and increasing productivity.

These are just a handful of examples that highlight how AI and digital twins are ushering in a new era of intelligent manufacturing.

Smart Buildings

Another area where digital twins are contributing to sustainability efforts is the creation of smart buildings. With increasing regulations aimed at designing greener buildings, the construction industry needs a way to plan scenarios to reduce environmental impact and minimize energy consumption before breaking ground.

The digital model enables infrastructure owners to better utilize resources, respond to human needs and make decisions that support a more sustainable built environment. Better resource planning is now possible by leveraging data from different sources. To provide insight into the impact, Accenture estimates that energy consumption in buildings can be reduced by 30% to 80% using virtual twin technologies.

As digital twin adoption and intelligent technologies become increasingly ubiquitous, they will enable better decisions that support a more circular, less carbon-intensive economy, ultimately creating a more sustainable planet.

Cheryl Ajluni is a Leader in IoT Solutions at Keysight Technologies.