IoT in Sustainability – Five Examples
With no industry left untouched, IoT devices have indeed permeated the modern world. Various devices have proven instrumental in monitoring, tracking, and facilitating sustainability solutions over the past two decades.
With global sustainability efforts now more crucial than ever, the potential for leveraging technology to help us become more environmentally aware is impossible to understate. Whether to meet their targets or ensure government compliance, many companies worldwide have already adapted various technologies to high degrees of success, reducing a carbon footprint and contributing towards a sustainable future.
Are you using IoT devices to monitor your efforts? This blog will outline five common examples of IoT influencing sustainability, from everyday appliances to industry-specific cases.
Smart Meters
Smart meters, from homes to businesses, are ubiquitous nowadays. They use digital technology to measure and communicate energy consumption to utility providers. By leveraging emerging technologies, smart meters provide actionable insights into energy use, enabling more informed decision-making.
Most energy companies deploy these devices to allow users to observe their consumption in real time and give them more autonomy over their bills. In turn, this incentivises positive behaviour changes through the prospect of saving money while promoting energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
By using smart meters, home and business owners are more likely to make more conscious decisions, such as turning off lights or appliances when not in use, which helps lower carbon emissions.
Businesses can use smart meter data to help forecast energy usage and adjust their budgets. They can often enjoy dynamic pricing and demand response programs to reduce energy costs throughout peak periods, and this real-time data empowers companies to be more aware of their environmental impact and optimise their supply chains.
Smart Air Quality Sensors
Air quality sensors are IoT devices that measure environmental metrics like temperature, humidity, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and carbon dioxide levels. These IoT sensors provide crucial data that businesses, energy companies, and environmental bodies use to support decision-making in tackling climate change and maintaining environmental sustainability.
Businesses and environmental bodies administer this technology to monitor air quality and detect any issues or abnormalities. Homeowners and office-based companies also use these devices to monitor the air inside their homes and offices, alerting the occupants of any problems. The real-time element of these devices, often powered by IoT technology, helps people avoid sickness and other health risks while also reducing their environmental impact.
While certain variables, such as bad firmware or calibration, can affect the accuracy of air quality sensors, these devices continue to be helpful and intuitive tools within IoT ecosystems.
Smart Irrigation Systems
Smart irrigation systems use IoT technology to automate and monitor water consumption, helping reduce waste, detect leaks or other problems, and promote energy efficiency.
Using a smart system integrated with water usage, you can schedule your irrigation measures based on your plants’ real-time needs, keeping plants healthy and reducing reliance on manual watering methods.
These systems promote sustainability by conserving water and preventing leaks to ensure minimal water loss. Leaks can cost up to 6,300 gallons of water per month, so harnessing predictive maintenance technology to avoid this is essential for reducing environmental impact.
IoT-Enabled Compost Bins
Compost bins store fertiliser, which provides essential nutrients for plants of all kinds. The quality of the fertiliser depends on the temperature and humidity inside the bin, which IoT devices can monitor using 4G-connected sensors to track relevant parameters, adjust aeration and moisture, and log pertinent metrics in real-time.
These smart systems facilitate efficient organic waste management, contributing to sustainability efforts by reducing landfill use, lowering carbon emissions, and producing nutrient-rich compost for agricultural and gardening purposes.
Wind Turbines
The most significant use of IoT devices to support sustainability is for wind turbines. They play a crucial role in their continued reliability and efficiency. For example, condition monitoring systems (CMS) detect anomalies in turbine components and monitor the thermal state of critical components to prevent overheating.
Wind turbines also use environmental sensors, like anemometers, to measure wind speed and direction. This allows for the real-time adjustment of turbine blades to capture maximum renewable energy. Weather sensors provide data on environmental conditions that directly affect the effectiveness of wind turbines.
IoT solutions in wind energy also extend to monitoring the supply chain, ensuring operations are devised with efficiency and minimal environmental impact in mind.
How IoT Devices Have Impacted Sustainability Efforts
IoT devices have become integral to modern-day sustainability efforts, particularly in real-time data collection. The technology allows users to adjust and tailor their efforts according to specific conditions, helping save costs and bolstering performance according to different conditions.
The best thing about IoT technology is that it’s universal – whether you’re a business, an individual, or a regulating body, it will help you reduce your carbon emissions while enhancing your connectivity and energy management measures.
At Iotie, we provide IoT solutions compatible with networks across over 150 countries, all from a single SIM card. By using IoT technology to power all kinds of solutions, we enable you to leverage your continued growth, efficiency, and innovation. Contact us today to see how we can help you reduce your environmental impact and contribute to a sustainable future.
