EnergAI

Solve for sustainability

Accenture's first AI4Environment Hackathon, with more than 400 participants across 30 locations, gave us one theme, AI for Sustainability, and a set of datasets to create something out of nothing. While researching sustainability problems, I came across X Prize, a nonprofit with a list of problems looking for solutions. One of them was bringing energy to off-grid communities.

One of our datasets had Tanzania's environmental metrics. We crossed it with a dataset on the watts different renewable sources produce. Our users would be sustainability experts who bring energy to rural areas and communities.

Energy access for everyone, anywhere

I formed a team of four co-workers with one goal, to use AI to give off-grid communities feasible access to renewable energy. We had two days to develop the idea and build a working model, and we kept running tests and adding information to our datasets as the hackathon moved forward.

The model looks at daylight hours, rain and wind, plus location, population and nearby towns, to recommend the best renewable sources.

The flow starts with a location, zooms into a specific community, then shows the renewable energy plan EnergAI recommends for it.

What happened

This hackathon was special because I led the team and the solution. I learned to read and compare datasets and work with AI models. My team felt like Captain Planet's heroes, each with an important role, and I was proud to lead them.