Fostering understanding of energy since 1982

The Energy Forum, Inc. is dedicated to fostering public understanding of energy issues including the energy market and industry and of the many challenges facing them in a rapidly changing world. Its regular public lectures and discussions on a variety of relevant topics provide a collegial platform where industry and academic experts, business leaders, policymakers, students, journalists and others can exchange information and ideas about energy issues and interact with one another in a non-partisan environment.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming energy as quickly and unpredictably as it has changed other parts of society. Oil and gas companies have been among its earliest adopters, using AI to optimize their operations, notably exploration and production. But AI can also be leveraged, and is increasingly being used, to accelerate the decarbonisation agenda of the energy industry — whether by supporting the deployment of renewable fuels, reducing the climate footprint of incumbent fossil fuels, or increasing the efficiency of energy consumption. This session will deal with the scope of this ongoing transformation and what AI means for energy and sustainability. It will show how AI is being used in practice by a number of key players. These include: scientists and tech innovators (focusing on GHG monitoring); policymakers and regulators; financial operators (focusing on how a major bank uses AI in its workflows and decision-making to decarbonise its energy portfolio); and the energy industry itself. The session will address the opportunities, obstacles and risks that relate to AI, and how, respectively, they can be taken, overcome and managed.