Photo credit: Paris 2024/Ph.Guignard/Air-Images.net
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is leveraging Alibaba Cloud’s Energy Expert sustainability platform to measure and analyze electricity consumption at Olympic Games Paris 2024 venues, as the international sports event works to reduce its carbon impact.
Paris 2024 kicks off on July 26 and will host athletes and visitors across 35 locations around the French capital city, in addition to thousands more during the Paralympics that follow.
To minimize power wastage and guide planning for future Olympics, the Energy Expert platform will analyze energy consumption and create venue-specific energy-use forecasts and recommendations.
Organizers will be able to measure all energy-related data during the Olympics and Paralympics, including electricity consumption, power demand contingency, venue capacity, competition-related information and onsite weather conditions.
“Electricity consumption is a large contributor to the Olympic Games’ carbon emissions. The data-driven insight produced by Energy Expert will help us learn from each Games edition, and apply that knowledge intelligently to make future events even more energy efficient,” Ilario Corna, the IOC’s Chief Information and Technology Officer, said in a statement.
The IOC has pledged to halve the Paris 2024 Games’ carbon footprint compared to previous Games, with innovative solutions for energy, food, venues, transport and digital services.
The vast majority (95%) of Paris 2024 venues will stay in use following the Games to ensure long-term opportunities for local communities to practice sports.
Data-Driven Energy Measurement
Energy Expert paves a path forward for Olympic Games organizers, present and future, to better understand energy consumption at Olympic venues.
Its reach extends across operational areas, gathering real-time electricity consumption data from broadcast and media working areas, technology operational spaces and a host of other temporary operational spaces.
“Energy Expert will further prove its value in the most high-profile and challenging arena of all: the fast-paced and highly competitive world of international sports,” said William Xiong, Vice President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence and General Manager for International Industry Solutions.
Energy Expert is helping slash carbon emission and optimize energy consumption at temporary exhibition venues during Paris 2024 as well.
Visitors to the Alibaba Wonder Avenue in the Avenue des Champs-Élysées can see an example of an Energy Expert suggestion in practice.
The venue’s main structure is constructed from sustainable wooden materials and recyclable steel to cut the carbon footprint, per the platform’s recommendation. The venue also opted for a semi-open design to reduce power consumption and carbon emission, leveraging natural lighting and ventilation.
“The insights Energy Expert delivers, will form part of the solution to assist the IOC and future Games to be more sustainable,” noted Xiong.
Proven Track Record
Energy Expert’s Olympic journey started at the first Olympic Esports Week in 2023, when its carbon measurement capabilities measured emissions at temporary constructions built to host the virtual games event.
The platform compared the potential environmental impact of different building materials, leading it to calculate that replacing 60% of printed signage with digital signage would lead to 14 tons of carbon dioxide emissions reductions while reusing 50% of carpets after the event would slash emissions by 10 tons.
The platform’s impact can also be observed first-hand at Alibaba Group’s Xixi campus.
There, Energy Expert helps cut energy use by 30% during off-peak hours and lower annual air-conditioning energy use during the summer by 17%, six months since it started its operation.
The AI-powered tool has been monitoring air conditioning and heating across Alibaba Group’s 423,000 square meters campus since late 2021.
For more stories on Alibaba’s support for the Olympic Games, visit here
