Energy in Action Seminar Series

IN-PERSON ONLY

Join us for an in-person Seminar and Networking for the University of Houston's "Energy in Action Seminar Series". All seminars are free, but pre-registration is required to attend. The seminars will not be broadcast live, but a recording may be made available later.

Location: TBD

Speaker: Detlef Hohl, Chief Scientist Computation and Data Science at Shell

Title: AI and the Net-Zero Journey - Energy Demand, Emissions, and the Potential for Transition

Abstract:
Thanks to the availability of massive amounts of data, computing resources, and advanced algorithms, AI has entered nearly every sector. This has sparked significant investment and interest, particularly in building data centers with the necessary hardware and software to develop and operate AI models and AI-based workflows. We present energy consumption scenarios of data centers and impact on GHG emissions, considering both near-term projections (up to 2030) and long-term outlook (2035 and beyond). We address the quintessential question of whether AI will have a net positive, neutral, or negative impact on CO2 emissions by 2035. Additionally, we discuss AI's potential to automate, create efficient and disruptive workflows across various fields related to energy production, supply and consumption. In the near-term scenario, the growing demand for AI will likely strain computing resources, lead to increase in electricity consumption and therefore associated CO2 emissions. This is due to the power-hungry nature of big data centers and the requirements for training and running of large and complex AI models, as well as the penetration of AI assistant search and applications for public use. However, the long-term outlook could be more promising.

Speaker Biography:
Detlef Hohl holds a Master's degree in chemistry from Technical University of Munich and a PhD in theoretical physics from Technical University of Aachen (Germany). Before joining Shell, he was senior scientist at the German National Laboratory Forschungszentrum Jülich. Detlef spent his entire Shell career in R&D, both in the US and in Europe. First in geophysical seismic imaging and inversion, then he became R&D team leader for “Quantitative Reservoir Management”. From 2010-2017 he was R&D General Manager Computation and Modeling where he led a project portfolio in data analytics, computational engineering and materials science, geoscience and petroleum engineering.

Detlef was appointed Shell’s Chief Scientist for Computational and Data Science in 2017 where he oversees and guides Shell’s entire computational and computer science portfolio, including elements of Artificial Intelligence, physical systems simulation at all spatial and temporal scales, chemicals and chemical engineering modeling, future energy systems optimization, atmospheric and Earth science modeling.

Detlef has always used the largest available high-performance computers of their time to do big things that cannot be done otherwise. He has co-authored about 80 publications, is active in the academic, National laboratory and joint industry research communities, member of APS, ACM, SIAM, SPE, SEG and AGU. Detlef is adjunct professor and teaches courses at University of Houston and Rice University. He held various temporary and visiting positions at University of Illinois (NCSA), SISSA Trieste, NIST and Stanford University. In his free time, science remains his biggest hobby.

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