HOW CAN AI HELP US IN PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT?

Here's a new use for AI that may reduce the environmental impact of air travel. ✈

Every day's a school day...  We think this is really interesting!

In summary:
❗The aviation sector is responsible for around 2.4% of global CO2 emissions.
😒 A single flight can emit as much CO2 as many people do in an entire year.
(Source - BBC News)

Contrails,🤔 are line-shaped clouds made from the water in plane engine exhausts. They account for between approximately 30-57% of the entire climate impact of aviation. (Estimates on impact seem to vary a lot between sources 🙄.)

☄Contrails don't always occur during flights - the air needs to be both very cold AND humid, but they trap and absorb heat which would have escaped into space, this contributes to global warming.

🌃 The effect is worse at night when it's colder and contrails have a longer lifetime.

The win:
🙌 American Airlines partnered with Google Research and Breakthrough Energy. They used AI to predict where contrails would be formed so flight paths could be re-routed to avoid them.

☑ During a 6-month study, 70 pilots reduced their contrail formation by 54 per cent, according to satellite imagery.

👏 This is one of the first examples of commercial flights being able to avoid contrails, reducing their impact on the environment.

❓Have you come across any new uses for AI that are applicable to the lifestyle or habits of the masses? Chat GPT has been discussed to death, but we'd love to hear about other advances affecting large segments of the population...

​Please pop your thoughts in the comments!