With the rise of ChatGPT and other artificial-intelligence chatbots, AI is everywhere, from your doctors office to your brokerage account. It’s also poised to shake up another hot sector of the economy: clean energy.
Among those tracking this closely is Amy Francetic, co-founder of Buoyant Ventures, an $81 million venture capital fund founded in 2020 focused on digital applications, including AI, for climate technology.
[Wall Street Journal:] When people think about taking on climate change, they typically think of big physical infrastructure and gear like solar farms, windmills, geothermal and of course electric vehicles. How does AI fit into the climate-solution puzzle?
[Francetic:] A lot of what makes that infrastructure work well is software and digital solutions–whether that’s stitching together the infrastructure or making it more cost-effective. That’s the opportunity for software and AI to create efficiencies on top of that infrastructure.
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[Wall Street Journal:] A wave of cash is coming from government programs such as the Inflation Reduction Act. How is that affecting the investment environment?
[Francetic:] The funds being deployed to speed up the transition to electric vehicles are really exciting. It creates more opportunities for software to figure out where to site infrastructure, where to put the chargers, how to manage the payments across different types of cars. We’re excited about fleet management more than passenger vehicles.
