In this video, green technologist Charlotte Degot describes the difficulties in measuring total greenhouse gas emissions for corporations and the opportunities in using artificial intelligence to better calculate these emissions.
It discusses that with more accurate emissions measurements (that take into account supply chains and all sources), companies will be able to create more attainable goals for reduction and better monitor their progress towards these goals.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The video uses charts, which will help students understand the complex real-world examples.
The speaker is optimistic about the impacts of AI technology, while also realistically maintaining the need for additional solutions beyond this.
Additional Prerequisites
An ad may play at the end of the video.
Students should know what artificial intelligence is and how it is used.
Differentiation
There are subtitles and a transcript available in nine different languages.
This could be used in science courses while learning about climate change solutions or technological innovation.
Technology or engineering courses could use this video to discuss artificial intelligence uses and the role of technology in real-world problem solving.
To illustrate how difficult emissions calculations can be, teachers could challenge students to quantify the emissions of their school day taking into account various factors like transportation, electricity, food production, etc.
Cross-curricular connections can be made with economics classes by discussing the financial benefits or drawbacks for companies to utilize AI technology in emissions tracking.
This 9-minute TED talk discusses ways in which carbon dioxide emissions are calculated using traditional methods and how artificial intelligence and data science can help us make better estimates. Examples relating to glass and cement manufacturing make the concepts clear. While this resource may be a bit optimistic about the power of artificial intelligence, it presents a good example of the ways in which data science can help us understand our world. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
ETS1: Engineering Design
HS-ETS1-3 Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Economics
D2.Eco.1.9-12 Analyze how incentives influence choices that may result in policies with a range of costs and benefits for different groups.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
