Microsoft run pilot tests using AI to cut its energy consumption
Microsoft is testing a pilot programme that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to reduce energy consumption at a chiller plant by 15%. The heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system in an average US office building takes up around 40% of the overall energy bill. Microsoft's machine learning system is not the first to impact energy consumption. Google's AI research company, DeepMind reduced its energy bill in data centres by 40%, after being able to predict incoming compute loads and the need for more or less cooling.
One of Google's data centres in Changhua, central Taiwan Getty Images / Sam Yeh / Staff

Google has created artificial intelligence that's able to save the amount of electricity it uses to power its data centres.

Using machine learning developed by the firm's AI research company, DeepMind, it was possible to reduce the energy used for cooling the centres by a staggering 40 per cent.

By applying machine learning to its own centres, which power Google Search, Gmail, YouTube and all of Google's services, it was able to improve their efficiency.

The algorithms and methods used could also be transferred to air conditioning systems in large manufacturing plants or, on an even larger scale, to reduce wastage in the energy grid.

"What we've been trying to do is build a better predictive model that essentially uses less energy to power the cooling system by more accurately predicting when the incoming compute load is likely to land," Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of DeepMind told WIRED.

"Also in real time we're adjusting the parameters of the cooling system so that it more closely matches the demand from the compute processing."