How IoT, AI and digital twins can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

Organizations committed to improving sustainability can monitor and analyze their resource use and resulting emissions through the use of Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence technologies , thereby making progress towards achieving these goals. However, businesses that adopt IoT for other reasons often also improve their sustainability as a side benefit.

Nearly three-quarters of IoT adopters with near-term sustainability goals believe IoT solutions are “very important” to achieving those goals. The combination of sensor devices, edge and cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning can provide data and analytical insights into how resources are used, where leaks or failures occur and impact consumption, and where efficiencies can be improved. Additionally, digital twin technology can create digital models of real-world devices, buildings, and even smart cities to gain a more detailed understanding of how to operate more sustainably.

How digital technology can help sustainability efforts

As awareness of climate change increases and regulations on activities related to emissions and resource use increase, sustainability efforts are Becoming a top priority for many organizations. Microsoft has established transparency goals and tracks progress towards its carbon-neutral operations and has provided a software solution to help others record and report environmental impact.

Use Microsoft Azure IoT platform tools to help drive solutions in the following sustainability categories:

• Efficient energy production and distribution: Digital Tools Are Positive It is being used to help power plants - a significant source of air emissions - run as efficiently and cleanly as possible. Utilities are using IoT solutions to monitor and manage transmission and distribution grids for maximum efficiency, allocate extra power when demand fluctuates, and detect outages faster. It also helps remotely control renewable energy facilities such as wind farms. smartPulse provides a solution designed to manage the distribution and trading of electricity, enabling utilities to manage imbalances in an economically beneficial manner.
• Building smarter, carbon-neutral buildings: The construction and operation of buildings generates 38% of total energy-related CO2 emissions globally, creating huge opportunities for smart building solutions opportunities that can have a significant impact on a building’s carbon footprint. IoT technology, digital twin modeling and artificial intelligence have proven particularly useful in managing buildings through automated lighting and climate control systems, as well as modeling the environmental impact of any design or operational changes. Vasakronan, a global leader in sustainability, has adopted IoT and Azure Digital Twins solutions for its commercial and office properties across Sweden, resulting in significant energy cost savings.
• Improving Public Infrastructure: Using IoT technology to update infrastructure can make it more sustainable and create other livability improvements such as increased safety and reducing excessive light pollution . The Spanish city of Valencia saw this when city officials launched public lighting upgrades. The project included replacing lighting in a national park because too much light could damage wildlife and plants. Lighting solutions provider Schréder and cloud integration solutions provider Codit have joined forces to upgrade more than 100,000 lighting fixtures and integrate them with Azure IoT technology. The city reduced electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 80%, saving millions of euros every year.
• Agriculture and Food Production: Data collection and analysis techniques inform decisions that lead to better environmental practices, including planting, irrigation and pesticide use. Computer vision can detect weeds or pests threatening growing areas. At a time when labor shortages in agriculture are becoming more common, related technologies are enabling the development of more automation. For example, the North Carolina Plant Sciences Program is using faster, more efficient data management to address agriculture’s biggest challenges with the goal of creating better predictive food analytics, improving food safety, and increasing crop yields.

Improve business performance

In addition to the benefits of reducing natural resource consumption and controlling emissions, sustainability efforts can generate business value. In a recent survey, 40% of respondents said they expected their business’s sustainability programs to generate moderate or significant value within the next five years. This value comes primarily from energy cost savings, reduced material requirements and improved operational efficiency.

Get Started with Sustainable IoT Solutions

By combining sustainable development goals with innovative solutions, businesses and people can limit their daily impact on the earth’s resources. IoT solutions can help businesses transform to increase efficiency, manage renewable energy production, reduce waste, or accelerate the development and release of sustainability-oriented applications.

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