Sustainability and Resilience

Hey ASCE,

I have been encouraged by recent news that researchers/companies are finding ways to use AI for Lifecycle Cost Analysis, earthworks balancing, material conservation, and more. However, I know that AI consumes vast amounts of energy and has a major environmental footprint.

My question is, how do we know when it is worth the trade-off to apply AI for sustainability analysis? Is current research counting the cost of AI tools when reporting the carbon savings, etc. on the projects it evaluates? How can we responsibly apply AI in a way that accomplishes our sustainability goals?

#ArtificialIntelligenceandMachineLearning

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Anna Lisonbee EIT, ENV SP, M.ASCE
Sandy UT
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Hi Anna,

Thank you for raising this important question! I think it's crucial to consider the full lifecycle impact of AI tools, including their energy consumption and carbon footprint, when evaluating sustainability benefits. In my experience, AI can be very effective for optimizing material usage, scheduling, and cost efficiency, but the energy cost should be part of the analysis.

One practical approach is to compare the environmental savings achieved through AI-driven optimization with the energy footprint of the AI computations themselves. This can help determine whether using AI adds net value from a sustainability perspective.

I also believe responsible application involves using AI selectively for tasks where it truly enhances efficiency or reduces waste, rather than applying it everywhere by default.

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Darya Stanskova M.ASCE
Cost Estimator, Construction Engineer, Power Engineer, Project Manager
Fort Myers FL
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