The energy industry needs to adopt open source AI software, and the collaborative processes used to create it, to satisfy demand for energy created by the growing use of … artificial intelligence.
That’s the not entirely self-serving argument at the core of a new report from the Linux Foundation Energy, aka LF Energy, an initiative to promote the use of open source software in the energy sector.
The document points out that “power used to flow from largescale dispatchable generation units to passive end users through centrally managed transmission and distribution networks.”
Today, generators come in many more shapes and sizes and types, meaning more orgs must work together to keep electrons moving. While these distributed systems the industry uses already employ plenty of sensors, IoT tech, and edge compute, the growing complexity of the grid and its inputs mean AI is now increasingly being used to manage it.
AI is, of course, also driving demand for energy thanks due to the massive datacenter builds under way to run such workloads. Those new facilities themselves create the need for more resilient, higher-capacity energy infrastructure.
AI, under open source license, is thus prescribed to remedy the energy demand problems created by AI (alongside other watt-squandering activities like cryptocurrency mining, online advertising, and social media-driven digital content consumption).
“The energy sector is going through a fundamental transition,” Alex Thornton, executive director of LF Energy, told The Register.
“It’s the biggest change that we’ve seen in energy and electricity since maybe the invention of the electric grid. And a major part of that transition is digitalization.”
The biggest change we’ve seen in energy and electricity since maybe the invention of the electric grid. And a major part of that transition is digitalization
Adding more digital technology to energy infrastructure, Thornton explained, means addressing current constraints around transmission to make it easier to bring new data centers online, to hook up and charge electric vehicles, and deploy virtual power plants – a collection of energy resources connected together.
All of which needs data.
“Digitaliza
