AI can also make a positive contribution to sustainability according to Schneider Electric. The French company is developing AI agents specialized in energy management.
Schneider Electric is launching a multi-year project to develop an AI-native ecosystem aimed at helping organizations manage and optimize their energy and sustainability goals. The project focuses on deploying AI agents in combination with human expertise.
Digital Colleagues for Sustainability Management
The core of the new ecosystem consists of agentic AI, where digital agents collaborate with human experts within business processes. These AI solutions are embedded in adaptive workflows that automate and optimize energy management and decarbonization. According to Schneider Electric, this leads to more efficient decision-making and better results in terms of sustainability.
Julien Picaud has been appointed as Head of Product Management and will lead the project. He is tasked with renewing the company’s existing software platforms and integrating new AI functionalities. This renewal is partly based on technologies from recently acquired sustainability specialist EcoAct.
Focus on Collaboration, Efficiency, and Energy Consumption
The AI ecosystem is designed with an eye for computational efficiency and responsible resource use. Schneider Electric emphasizes that it wants to build systems that use energy more efficiently without compromising performance. This includes smaller models, optimized algorithms, and infrastructure with a lower environmental impact.
The announcement builds on existing initiatives such as the Resource Advisor Copilot, an AI tool for sustainability insights, and a global AI hub that helped companies realize $15 million in optimization benefits worldwide. Additionally, Schneider Electric is collaborating with Nvidia on data center solutions that combine efficiency and sustainability.
The new AI ecosystem is intended to support companies in managing the increasing complexity of energy and sustainability management. Schneider Electric uses its more than twenty years of experience in these domains to combine both technological and domain-specific knowledge in one integrated approach.
AI and sustainability are sometimes difficult to reconcile, due to the extensive computing power required for the technology. LLM-based applications like ChatGPT consume a lot of energy and water. Schneider Electric wants to show that it can be done differently. Experts say during a roundtable on data centers by ITdaily that a lot is being invested in more sustainable data centers today.
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