It was my honour to lead the DDC Discusses Energy event at the Science Museum. This was a moment to step away from the details of specific technologies and change programmes; to look back and into the future to inform how we move forward. As AI evolves towards a leading role, the questions of what is the energy system for in future and who does it benefit were themes behind the specifics of my speech. Are we solving for cost or sustainability? Are both achievable? Will the benefits be distributed fairly? How are they delivered and by whom? In my speech we considered the stages of human development from agriculture, industrial revolution, the information age through emerging technologies and then artificial intelligence. Finally onto the implications of an autonomous optimising energy system in future - all through the a consumer perspective. Using a story of humanity structure, we explored the opportunities and benefits of each era alongside the implications and risks for society and how energy will continue to support our lives. All the imagery was AI generated from prompts we fed in to see how it understands our world, energy and future - which I think was a first! When there is past content to use it makes understandable but often naive choices but when you ask it to provide speculative imagery, it goes out into the realms of science fiction. AI doesn't understand that a wind turbine may have three blades but one of them cannot be floating in the sky....or that waterwheels powering the industrial revolution need to be next to water. The processing capability is often ahead of its ability to derive context or meaning, which has great implications when the human hand comes off and we move to autonomous multi-process automation. I illustrated the talk with personal anecdotes and even AI generated Northern Soul music, to illustrate how pervasive the technology is becoming and the unexpected ways we accept it. Then we had a stimulating and even challenging Q&A as we got deeply into considering our future energy system, how it is designed and steered to benefit us all. There was such passion, I think we were all surprised where it went! It was an inspiring day for me and I'm profoundly thankful to DDC OS in trusting me to develop and lead this event. Even they only saw and heard it all on the day. A personal thank you goes out to the team who created this with me: Niall Rogers, Charlotte Pike, Alex Cann for the amazing work on the AI imagery. Plus of course Joe Beal and Nathan Jones for delivering the event together with me. More input from the day in my comments below. Also fascinating thoughts that arose here: Martin Teasdale - https://lnkd.in/d4dsisDp Jon Ferris - https://lnkd.in/dCpyNspQ Niall Rogers - https://lnkd.in/ejFkGtdr Madison Conway, M.A. - https://lnkd.in/ePtnXGhC It felt a 'you had to be there' moment. Thank you Coylenergy ltd #EnergyAI #AI #ConsumerEnergy #SmartEnergy #EnergyFlexibility #DERS #HEMS #V2H
Thanks to people who engaged in the Q&A driving on the discussion,. Steven Day pushed us to think deeply about our plantery future, John Fox on the enabling role of tech when focused on consumer needs, Dr. Steven Fawkes on the long term trends that go beyond short term political phases and Ian Rose on the constructed and often constrained role of markets for consumer outcomes. Carl Haigney helped us draw these strands together and consider the kind of market design and social benefit we need. Rachel Eyres pushed to consider how and who makes it happen? I kept responding as the mood turned from exploration into action. At that point, I was ready to rasie a flag and start a march. But that was the point, it was a deliberate intent to provoke us all to seek for more and act in a way that meets future needs of a faster society in flux - in service of the energy consumer. This is was a moment to not accept fragmentation and incrementalism in face of the ever faster pace of technology cycles and future challenges we all see. It was instead a humble attempt to inspire us to design for wider benefit, for energy models only now emerging, and to collaborate beyond our propositions and silos. Seriously all, thank you eveyrone.
I welcome thoughts from the participants yesterday here in comments and also soon we will be launching some follow-on to carry on the momentum.
I was asked today, the BBC audio programme I referred to in the speech available to hear is https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0027d7n
Great presentation Mark Coyle. Loved the images as well!
Thank you for hosting our recent event! Your talk made it truly unforgettable. 💡
Mark Coyle the public has spoken - we need a northern soul inspired energy revolution where the spark that lights the fire comes from you leading the masses in a stomp and shuffle that will teach AI the meaning of life. I eagerly await my invitation.
Mark Coyle thanks so much for such an insightful session. I'm slightly disappointed the Northern Soul segment didn't involve any of your dancing that we've heard so much about; maybe next time!!
Excellent talk Mark with so much to consider, complemented by the wide variety of personnel and experience in the room. Galvanising the industry like this is just what’s needed to accelerate consensus and positive change at a crucial time for everyone interacting with energy (ie… everyone) My conclusion - let’s keep pushing to make the new energy future so attractive to the consumer that’s it’s a no brainer to opt in - by creating products and services that make the benefits clear and obvious (and protect the planet in tandem), to stimulate further support, growth and momentum. It’s already underway!💡🍃
Strategy & Implementation for Consumer & Distributed Energy
6moEven the images I put up above have themselves been through AI after the event. From content generation, call transciptions, live translation, to chatbots, AI written books, to energy optimisation - AI is here and the new proposition emphasis from global tech leaders, even if we ignore the hype and announcements. If we consider the technology alongside the geo-politcal context, we are at a moment where the direction of energy and our society could go in different directions. The information age is done, the data is generated and being harvested. Yet we have more vulnerable and fuel poor energy customers than ever while others with distributed energy technology benefit in reducing bills ever further (me included). If I have one clairon call it is to take this time to reflect before accelerating individual innovations and to bring together silos of technology, insight and good intention to create (at least part of) the energy system we want, not what feels inevitable - solving for individual monetary reward against incremental energy system benefits.