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For the several million years, our ancestors who have been used to be little money like creatures which is covering and hiding the shadows from the titans that roamed this earth. Then those titans that have been decided to give the little guy a break and presented us with the greatest gift of all ‘dying off.’
Moreover, once they departed, our rule began, but we did even not share the same sentiment as the dinosaurs which are even about giving the little guy a break also if they are the same species as you. So, we have decided to take over the planet like no species ever has. So, it is a time to kick the whole earth, saving thing into overdrive. So, in this post, we will explore how IoT in the Environment could be leveraged to achieve this since it is the best solution for most things.
IoT in Environment protection
IoT makes our life much better and more comfortable. Pocket-sized IoT environment sensor is used for monitoring the radiation, air quality, water quality, and many other environmental indicators. Sensors are also connected to smartphones with the help of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. Sensors send some of the enormous amounts of data to the network. This will even allow us to have a better understanding of our surroundings and prepare us to find a suitable solution for environmental protection.
Water management
From the past so many years, the government has spent already $4 billion on the upgrading and rebuilding the existing infrastructure of water. Water bills will skyrocket again and that even looks pretty logical. After all, only around % of the planet freshwater is available the people, and some of the regions have already been suffering from drought.
IoT vendors do acknowledge the issue – and come up with some of the unique solutions. Around 6% of the households now employ the smart water meters – IoT devices that help to track water consumption and send the generated data to an application for further analysis. The Government of United States has even developed the Green Button standards for the smart meter data access, which enables the customers to download the data which is being generated by the gadgets from the utility companies websites.
Customers can even use the data to calculate the potential savings with the help of a mobile app or also keep accurate records of the water consumption for another provider. Its clients manage to reduce water bills and save around 5.3 million liters of freshwater daily.
Moreover, IoT project for the Environment, which includes the smart meter rollout was set to bumpy start, the eco-friendly water management technologies that offer clean benefits to the people and governments.
Energy Management
The internet of things enables the business, governments, and consumers to monitors the performance of the grid in the real-time scenario, detect where they lose energy & consumption where the saving is even possible.
Currently, as of now, a new $ billion business revealed by General Electric in 209, which shows the Internet of Things potential to improve management of energy. The technology stack for the new IoT in protection environment includes the General Electrical Predix platform for the solar, industrial internet, and LED lighting and energy solutions.
The general idea behind this working project is “LED lightning as a service.” Instead of merely selling the energy-efficient lights, General Electric allows its customers to analyze the energy consumption, store it with the help of onsite batteries and generate enough electricity with the solar panels.
Some of the few industries which have used IoT in production environment include the Intel, Hospital Corporation, Hilton Worldwide of America – which already uses current and save around 20% off the energy.
Waste Management
By the end of 2025, the world population will be going to produce 2.2 billion tons of waste every year. Thus, the global spending on the management of e-waste will be going to surpass $375 billion, but it is not about the money after all.
The Internet of Things waste management technologies changes the way we dispose of and collect garbage.
IoT in environment protection includes the wireless sensors to help the waste companies measure fill level in waste containers and optimize the garbage collection routes. The Enevo sensors are as of now reducing the waste collection costs by around 50% — the company as of now operates in 36 countries.
The smart containers automatically compress the wastage, shrinking collection frequency by around 70-80% on the average.
Reduce CO2 Emission
IoT on the Environment is beneficial because of reducing the Co2 emission. Because of the greenhouse, a large amount of gas that is emitted with human activities. IoT(Internet of Things) enabled the smart grids in the energy sector could even save around 2.0 Gt of Carbon dioxide with the implementation of demand response system and smart meters.
After that, by improving energy efficiency with the optimized routes of transportation, IoT could even reduce around 1.9Gt of Co2 in 5 years. With more applications on IoT become available, we are also expecting to see broader positive impacts on the IoT environment protection.
Challenges to the Environment
Additionally, IoT has also brought some of the obstacles to the Environment; nowadays we are facing is an e-waste issue. With the thousands of IoT devices pouring into the market in the coming few years, the old not IoT ready devices may even end in the landfills. With the speed of the development concerning the IoT, the number is also expected to increase at a faster pace. The issue may not be apparent now, but we need to consider that for sustainable development of the world.
The second challenge is energy consumption. IoT networks require a massive set of data to process and support their requirements. As a result of which, the energy consumption by the data centers is even vast and extensive as well as. The resources needed to produce that energy will also add a massive burden to the Environment.
Although big data centers are also trying to use as little power as possible, it is still even going to affect the energy sector as a whole. The energy and resources used to manufacture thousands of new devices, which is another source of energy consumption, which is caused by the IoT.
What is Green IoT?
Green energy sometimes even requires its surrounding Environment to help generate power supply, which makes it mostly unpredictable; this is where smart technology and IoT come into the play. Smart devices that use the IoT to connect to the internet produce a large amount of data centers by taking patterns from the past and even judging the surrounding area in the real-time scenario with the help of sensors, and analyzing its finding over the web.
This will give the information, telling us about the behavior of human, peak energy usage times and provide us with better models to best predict, and control the usage of energy. An example, of this, is that currently being used would be an electricity meter, which when compared connected to the internet, and with the use of high sensors can base how much energy it uses, and how much it should store in the battery.
How does smart technology help the Environment?
Renewable Energy
Some of the most recognized and essential eco-friendly technology advancements in recent years have been in the clean energy sector. Some of the renewable sources of energy which includes the hydroelectric, wind, and solar have become much more widespread as of now into the market and as well as cheaper.
The technology also keeps on advancing as well. Technological improvements have made renewables more effective and efficient. Some of the products, like the tesla solar panels, which look like the regular roofing tiles, have made them more appealing to consumers and accessible.
Going Digital
Individuals and businesses are using way less paper than in the years past, thanks to computers, cloud storage, and smartphones.
Many companies send newsletters, send bills, and some other communications over the email rather than the regular email. Files are stored in cloud computing, which is easily accessible from anywhere, rather than in the physical filing cabinets. People are most of the time frequently taking notes and managing their schedules on their smartphones rather than the physical calendars and notepads.
All of this even adds up to a “new normal” that has been lessened our dependence on the world tree population and also helped to reduce the deforestation.
Environmental Monitoring
Technology is also being used to make sure that environment-related laws and regulations are being followed closely.
In some of the areas where the poachers hunt the endangered animals, conservationists have begun with the help of drones to keep an eye on the field. The drones act as a security camera that can cover the vast distances, which makes it more difficult for those hunting illegally to get away with breaking part of the law.
Electric Cars
While ridesharing companies which enable us to use the fewer vehicles, those vehicles are also becoming more sort of a sustainable. A large number of electric cars in use has even risen steadily, over the past coming years. Hybrid vehicles have also become much more common.
The price of the electric cars is dropping as well, due to the technical improvements in the costs of the batteries which is required to run them. Moreover, experts predict that they will be cheaper to own traditional vehicles by the end of 2022.