{"title":"Towards a just AI-assisted energy transitions for vulnerable communities","authors":"Laurence L. Delina, Yuet Sang Marie Tung","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2024.103752","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This Perspective overviews the role and potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy technologies and systems. We pay close attention to and speculate the probable impacts of AI on communities which are already vulnerable to the effects of energy transition and discuss how these impacts can be mitigated. In addition to a short literature review, we employed the assistive capabilities of a Generative AI chatbot through hypothetical roleplays to provide feedback on proposed mitigative measures. We highlight society-positive and society-negative impacts, emphasising the implications for just energy transition. We suggest potential measures to address these issues using the energy justice framework, including developing accurate training datasets, community-based mitigation policies, and establishing participative decision-making channels. We argue that human discretion must remain paramount, particularly in ensuring participative policymaking that safeguards social equity protection for vulnerable communities in AI-assisted energy transitions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"118 ","pages":"Article 103752"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Energy Research & Social Science","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624003438","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This Perspective overviews the role and potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy technologies and systems. We pay close attention to and speculate the probable impacts of AI on communities which are already vulnerable to the effects of energy transition and discuss how these impacts can be mitigated. In addition to a short literature review, we employed the assistive capabilities of a Generative AI chatbot through hypothetical roleplays to provide feedback on proposed mitigative measures. We highlight society-positive and society-negative impacts, emphasising the implications for just energy transition. We suggest potential measures to address these issues using the energy justice framework, including developing accurate training datasets, community-based mitigation policies, and establishing participative decision-making channels. We argue that human discretion must remain paramount, particularly in ensuring participative policymaking that safeguards social equity protection for vulnerable communities in AI-assisted energy transitions.
期刊介绍:
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers.
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.