Artificial intelligence is powering more and more of the things we interact with every day, from our gadgets to our cars. But it's also playing a growing role in how society's undergirding resources -- energy, food, and water -- are sourced, secured, and delivered. In this three-part series, we'll consider how AI is being used to make those resources more environmentally and financially sustainable. AI is not a discrete technology, but rather a school of powerful and widely applicable data science tools, which include machine learning, pattern recognition, and natural language processing. All of these tools can squeeze far more useful information out of data, and more quickly than humans could reasonably do on their own.

A startup from California is using GPUs and big data to predict what homes are likely to buy solar panels. PowerScout is using GPUs on the Amazon cloud and cuDNN to train their deep learning models on a mix of data from commercial databases and LIDAR to detect solar panels from satellite images, and to also detect the presence of trees near homes that could cast shade onto roofs. The tools the startup developed can also help estimate how much energy could be harvested from a home's rooftop without needing to take measurements in person with a decent degree of accuracy. From the information, they can target direct mail and online marketing to the most promising customers and quickly give them online estimates. Then, those who are interested in rooftop solar can choose a financing plan and get connected to a local installation partner to have it installed.

For all its promise of delivering a bold future, the green energy industry is still decidedly low tech when it comes to moving merchandise. Solar panels are still sold door-to-door, a slow and expensive process that has impeded the industry's growth. Now, a California startup thinks it has a solution, using sophisticated data science to find consumers likely to adopt solar power and let them know just how much they can save on their electric bills. PowerScout, a machine-learning-enabled eCommerce platform for solar energy, aims to eliminate marketing costs that, according to CEO Attila Toth, can exceed the cost of the actual equipment for some green-power vendors. "This is very absurd--very crazy," Toth says.