IoT-powered solutions are largely used to address enterprise or consumer issues. Nevertheless, that same technology can also be implemented to solve some of the most critical global challenges, according to IoT For All.
This article discusses the role of IoT in solving the four most important current global issues.
The top 4 global issues that IoT solves:
Climate Change
A report by Ericsson indicates that Interconnected Communication Technology (ICT) like IoT can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 15 percent by 2030.
IoT climate change solutions can help reduce the effects of climate change by allowing us to tackle:
Energy Consumption: One of the main factors that accelerates climate change is the excessive consumption of energy. IoT-powered asset condition monitoring (ACM) systems, smart grids and smart meters are a great way to manage or even automate energy savings.
Air Pollution: IoT applications can help reduce air pollution through real-time monitoring of air quality. This can be achieved by scattering small, low cost, mobile-enabled sensors across cities from streetlights to bicycles and public transport, providing a broader picture of air quality levels.
Carbon Dioxide Emission: IoT can help reduce CO2 gas emissions from vehicles through smart traffic management. The idea here is to fetch data from various sources like traffic cameras, vehicles’ GPS, sensors, etc. and utilize it to analyze and understand traffic patterns.
Water Crisis
By providing greater insight into both the supply and demand of water, IoT helps facilitate the smart governance of the water ecosystem.
For instance, sensors can be deployed in dams, reservoirs and tanks to monitor the water levels in real-time. The data obtained can be sent to a server at regular intervals in order to calculate the amount of water utilized. This is one of the most helpful water conservation strategies.
Agricultural Concerns
Farmers can implement IoT by deploying sensors wherever necessary (e.g. on the ground, in water, in farm equipment, in tractors, etc.), to collect data about factors such as soil moisture and crop health.
The data collected can be stored on a server or cloud, which can be accessed by farmers on the go. This provides farmers with a smart, data-driven approach to maximize their yields and reduce waste.
Waste Management
IoT is beginning to gather interest from the waste management industry as it’s realized that IoT-based smart waste collection solutions are the need of the hour. These solutions track waste levels and provide route optimization and operational analytics.
According to a report from Navigant Research, the global smart waste collection technology market is expected to exceed $223 Million in 2025.
Indeed, IoT is paving the way for smart climate change solutions to some of the most critical global problems. As the technology evolves, these solutions continue to become sophisticated, contributing to the better health of our planet.