Net Zero and IoT: How to Achieve a Sustainable Future

Eseye

IoT Hardware and Connectivity Specialists

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Many of the natural use cases for IoT are about reducing waste and promoting efficiencies through the constant and accurate monitoring of resources and processes. This makes the technology a key player in the drive to meet internationally agreed climate and environmental targets involving governments, businesses and consumers.

The net zero mandate and the promise of IoT

Under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, nearly 200 countries agreed that CO2 emissions need to fall by nearly half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

Actioning the reductions is one thing. Measuring the success of these actions is another, and IoT is pivotal in both endeavors through its ability to significantly enhance energy efficiency, improve reliability through preventative maintenance, conserve electricity, gas and water, reduce waste, and create more flexible and adaptable business processes and systems.

In terms of measurement and accountability towards targets, IoT enables the continuous collection of real-time data from sensors at sources, including buildings, transportation systems, factories, farms, businesses and utilities. Aggregating and analyzing this data is crucial for understanding and optimizing resources and processes in multiple different verticals, including smart meters and sensors that can monitor electricity, water, and gas consumption, providing insights that help reduce waste and improve efficiency.

Key IoT applications driving net zero goals

The greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity for IoT to make a difference in driving net zero goals is through smart cities, smart campuses, and on the micro level, smart buildings.

An estimated 25% of energy consumed in the commercial real estate sector is wasted and around 75% of buildings in the EU are considered energy inefficient, according to research from smart building analyst Memoori. In these cases, retrofitted IoT sensors have a key role to play.

Smart buildings

According to the United Nations, two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050, and the commercial buildings in urban areas continue to have a significant impact on the local environment, accounting for 40% of local energy consumption, 60% of emissions, and 40% of landfill volume.

Furthermore, with more than 70% of commercial buildings in the UK constructed before 2000, the majority of non-residential buildings will face some form of retrofit to meet net-zero targets, according to the UK Green Building Council.

Given that Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and lighting can account for up to 50% of energy use in typical commercial buildings there is a clear case for leveraging IoT smart building technologies to reduce energy consumption – by as much as 50% in some estimations. This would not only mean reduced operating costs, but a lower environmental impact as well. An all round win for building owners, managers, occupants, and the environment.

Smart campuses

Smart campuses for both schools and workplaces share a lot in common with the IoT applications for both smart cities and smart buildings.

Large universities, academic institutions and some enterprises may need to support tens of thousands of staff, students, and employees not just in working and learning, but also in terms of transportation, catering, exercise, and socializing. This makes educational campuses more like small towns with multiple facilities, rather than singular office buildings.

As with office work, the focus has shifted to the consideration of smart campus design in relation to the health, wellbeing, and productivity of occupants, from layout and environmental factors such as access, temperature, and cleanliness, to sustainability.

Smart cities

Smart cities consider the sustainability factors of buildings and campuses on a greater scale, with IoT bringing significant opportunities to transform urban services, from transportation, to water and power, occupation, and healthcare.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), over 1.3 million people are moving to cities each week, and by 2040 with the rapidly expanding sprawl of urban developments, 65% of the world’s population will live in cities.

IoT connectivity means cities can achieve real-time data collection and analysis and improve everything from traffic management and public safety to energy efficiency and environmental monitoring. Smart cities encompass a lot of other ‘smart’ segments, including but not limited to smart water management, smart energy, smart mobility, smart buildings, and smart campuses, but all linked back to a centralized system.

In terms of carbon emissions, in city environments monitoring air quality is particularly important, and IoT sensors can help the city understand where the pollution hotspots are and how the pollution is generated.

Smart energy and water management

Adoption of IoT-enabled smart meters in utilities like water, electricity, and gas is exploding as innovations in connectivity open up new possibilities for water and energy providers to make substantial enhancements in operational efficiency and sustainability.

Smart metering is already widely regarded as the cornerstone for future energy grids and is currently being deployed all over the developed and developing world. Smart metering solutions enable energy grid providers to remotely monitor and manage energy production and facilitate digital payment collection, enabling PAYG services in low income and unbanked segments.

Meanwhile, smart metering solutions open up new possibilities for water utilities to make enhancements in operational efficiency, reduce non-revenue water (NRW), and greatly improve water conservation. They can also make consumers more aware of their habits, encouraging them to reduce their consumption of water and potentially their costs.

Ultimately, water is an essential resource for human survival and even though planet Earth’s surface is around 75% water, only around 1% of that is fresh water. This presents a global challenge in preserving water for drinking, agriculture, and manufacturing for current and future generations.

Green IoT

With electricity consumption increasing rapidly and the limited availability of natural resources necessitating efficient energy usage, predicting and managing electricity demand and costs is challenging.

Green IoT, also known as the Green Internet of Things, is emerging as a sustainable approach for efficient communication, data management, and device utilization, promoting environmentally friendly practices in design, manufacturing, and usage within the IoT ecosystem itself.

Research papers such as this are exploring advancements in Green IoT for smart grids, paving the path to sustainable energy usage in IoT, covering energy-efficient communication protocols, intelligent energy management, renewable energy integration, demand response, predictive analytics, and real-time monitoring.

In many cases, the importance of edge computing and fog computing in allowing distributed artificial intelligence (AI) is emphasized.

Benefits of IoT-driven sustainability

According to The Lancet Commission on pollution and health, diseases caused by pollution are responsible for over nine million premature deaths annually, and in the most severely affected countries, pollution-related disease is responsible for more than one death in four.

As governments, regulators, and subsequently, enterprises, look for new ways to manage our impact on the environment, reduce pollution, and conserve resources, environmental monitoring powered by IoT is becoming more important. IoT-enabled sensors are becoming key to observation and measurement, while data analytical tools are essential to establishing parameters and understanding impact. Connectivity is the final part of the puzzle, getting the data from the IoT devices into the analytical application.

As a result, the main driver for improving enterprise environmental monitoring and reporting is to better track compliance with environmental regulations. This includes monitoring air and water quality, weather, noise, pollen, smoke, and disaster risks, such as earthquakes and floods, in both urban and rural areas.

Advantages of IoT for sustainable infrastructure

• Real-time analytics: Continuous monitoring and real-time data collection enables precise control and management of resources such as energy or water.
• Energy efficiency: Optimizing the performance of city-wide, campus, and building systems and utilities leads to significant reductions in energy consumption for businesses and consumers.
• Sustainability: Better management of finite resources, increased use of renewable energy and reduced carbon emissions contribute to more sustainable environments and help achieve the net zero goal.
• Enhanced urban mobility: In a city environment, smart transportation systems improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, and lower vehicle emissions as well as making public transportation a more attractive alternative to private vehicles.

Eseye’s role in sustainable IoT architecture

Eseye’s IoT cellular connectivity solutions are essential for smart and sustainable deployments, ensuring that all sensors and smart devices are reliably connected, which is crucial for real-time data collection and decision-making.

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Eseye

IoT Hardware and Connectivity Specialists

LinkedIn

Eseye brings decades of end-to-end expertise to integrate and optimise IoT connectivity delivering near 100% uptime. From idea to implementation and beyond, we deliver lasting value from IoT. Nobody does IoT better.

In this article

• The net zero mandate and the promise of IoT
• Key IoT applications driving net zero goals
• Benefits of IoT-driven sustainability
• Advantages of IoT for sustainable infrastructure
• Eseye’s role in sustainable IoT architecture