Sustainability

Data and Automation Assist with Sustainability
admin
September 25, 2024
Data Analytics

How Can Data and Automation Assist with Sustainability in Your Business

The entire world is facing the inevitable digital transformation, which has not just changed the daily lives of ordinary men but has also changed the overall look of business operations in different industries. Technological progress and the introduction of innovative technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and automation are supporting company leaders to operate at better efficiency than ever before. They are capable of generating more revenue and delivering better services without any compromise. Hence making the globe a better place in the process. But the question is-How?

Why is sustainability a better method?

For many years, organizations of all sizes have acknowledged the intrinsic value of social, environmental, and governance (ESG) ambitions regarding customer retention and seamless operation at every step. Sustainability plans are smart business steps that can support company longevity and keep customers returning.

However, many company leaders acknowledge the importance of sustainable initiatives, but only one-fourth have embraced sustainability as part of their business model, as per the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

To get the most excellent prospect for long-term business success, the Switzerland-based company stimulates executives and company policymakers to follow local laws and rules and take a more proactive direction to sustainability.

Data and automation technologies support by offering tools to established companies and startups to meet their sustainability goals.

Smashing barriers and executing green initiatives:

Ideally, an organization’s sustainable ambitions should be genuine and environmentally oriented instead of being focused on making profits.

Today’s tech-familiar consumers are using their spending power to support environmentally aware companies and are even willing to invest a few extra bucks in sustainable products and brands.

Future-focused companies maintain transparency by revealing their sustainability goals and ambitions and promoting customer feedback.

However, feedback would only be so effective if it has the capability to churn some sense from it, and automation can become a complete game-changer in this matter.

Automation software can support this by reducing data interpretation burdens, allowing companies to accelerate their green initiatives and save money along with time.

For instance, by using automation software, companies can swiftly and easily track energy use, the amount of waste produced each day, consumer habits, carbon footprint, and many other things in order to streamline operations. Based on the amount of data collected, it could take months for humans worker to organize and analyze the relevant information properly. Technology makes things much faster with greater accuracy.

Data-powered insights to disclose optimization:

When we talk about a company’s sustainability goals, waste minimization must be at the forefront of the conversation. For a valid reason-It’s challenging to know the exact numbers in industrial waste production. Waste generation is a significant global problem and is expected to grow with time.

In addition, solid waste management is indeed a wasteful process in its own way, causing approx 1.6 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere in 2016 alone, as per data shared by the World Bank.

Manufacturing may profit from the data-automation-sustainability interplay in a massively wasteful industry, beginning with conservative inventory management. Extra inventory can block the supply chain and landfills. Nevertheless, using data-based insights and intelligent automation, businesses can thrive in the balance between large and less stock, greatly reducing waste, emissions, and overall environmental impact.

Improved efficiency of operations:

Waste arrives in different ways, and many businesses are guilty of wasting time. The saying “time is money” gets into the process here-ineffective and inefficient operations and redundancies can heavily disrupt the day-to-day processes while wasting time and money of the company.

The good part is that automation can bridge some gaps, boosting the efficiency of processes at each and every level of the supply chain.

Human error leads to inefficiency and wastes the time and money of the company, and now company owners across industries are noticing this. Companies can now reduce workplace stress and monotonies through workflow automation. It allows employees to concentrate on meaningful work that boosts efficiency and makes fewer errors.

Companies ready to embrace and enforce workflow automation into their sustainability program should start small and know the operations wherein automation will provide them with the best result. The adoption will help achieve financial goals, environmental goals, or another plan altogether.

Measuring Weighing cost vs. benefit:

For small business owners, executing sustainability initiatives may appear more like a pipe dream than an achievable goal, as the technology implementation is costly. However, businesses that have already adopted technology to drive sustainability must hire skilled employees who can potentially use these resources and streamline operations for enhanced economic and environmental benefit.

As companies can utilize automation and data analytics to improve efficiency, alter energy use, reduce waste and otherwise support using sustainability, the expense of financing in automation is worth it. By empowering company leaders to see the big and better picture regarding carbon footprint, data and automation can support optimizing operations and enhance a company’s bottom line.

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Smart and Sustainable Livestock Management supported by IoT
admin
July 27, 2023
IoT

IoT-Enabled Livestock Management: A Smart and Sustainable Approach

Food is a basic need for every living being, and the importance of the agriculture industry and livestock farming cannot be underrated. The demand for food, rabbit and poultry meat, has been increasing day by day, and the reason behind this increase is population growth, changing diets, and affordability. This has led to an increase in the number of poultry and rabbit farms worldwide and improved the sensitivity toward animal welfare issues.

Many farm owners have adopted standardized farming management practices to meet the growing meat demands. Many others have added new technologies and innovations like smart farming methods using the Internet of Things and machine-to-machine solutions in their livestock management process.

Adopting the latest farming technology, smart sensors, and livestock monitoring solutions can assist farmers in efficiently managing their resources and enhancing productivity. This adoption also guarantees minimum wastage and less energy consumption.

Value Proposition

Traditional methods of livestock management include inspecting each animal for signs of injury and diseases. Farm owners with large livestock farms often fail to detect ill cattle and face loss. This monitoring method is time-consuming, labor-intensive, costly, and highly erratic.

As per research conducted by Oklahoma University, lung lesions and scarring are found in 37 percent of cattle that had never been diagnosed as sick, and in a trial at the Meat Animal Research Center found that 68% of steers tested showed signs of past respiratory infection.

Although the animals can recover independently, studies show that once cattle have been ill, they cannot catch up to the rest of the healthy herd in health or value.

IoT Data for Livestock Houses and Management

Farmers can optimize their processes, improve animal welfare, enhance traceability, and increase overall productivity by adopting IoT technology offering real-time data on environmental aspects like temperature, gas levels, and humidity.

Such IoT solutions are constructive for monitoring ammonia levels, which causes severe eye irritations and respiratory problems in animals and humans as well. By keeping these aspects under control, farmers can improve their cattle’s health and well-being and enhance the final product’s quality.

Enhanced Farming Practices

Using low-cost and durable smart sensors in an IoT solution for farming is an efficient and cost-effective way to gather and analyze data. The IoT sensors can be implanted in different locations around the livestock houses to gather data on different aspects like temperature, humidity, water quality, gas levels, and many other things.

The sensors can also be installed to gather data in real-time, guaranteeing that the farmer has access to real-time information about their farm’s current status, environment, and operations.

The consolidated and easy-to-install feature of the sensors makes them a feasible option for farmers who wishes to speed up their farming practices without disrupting their procedures. The advanced battery-backed system guarantees that sensors are durable, skipping the frequent battery replacement and maintenance requirements.

IoT Platforms for Livestock Houses

The gathered data is then processed and analyzed using an IoT platform, which can provide insights and actionable suggestions to the farmer. The information can be accessed using mobile devices, authorizing the farmer to monitor their farm from any location at any time. The data provided is in an easy-to-understand format means farmers do not need specialized technical knowledge to understand and utilize the information.

What are the Benefits of IoT-Enabled Livestock Management?

  • Monitor the health and vitality of livestock in real-time, allowing farmers to immediately treat animals and prevent the spread of illness or disease.
  • Track grazing animals to know their grazing patterns and activities and prevent loss. 
  • Collect and analyze past data to identify and understand trends in cattle health or track the spread of illness.
  • Monitor the heat period or birth time, avoiding the loss of new calves and optimizing breeding practices.

Revolutionizing the Farming Industry to Boost Productivity

The success of IoT in reducing disease and mortality rates in livestock houses, increasing output, and optimizing overall operations shows its potential for enhancing farming practices.

The data gathered using the sensors can be utilized to determine the pattern and make informed decisions to enhance productivity, lower costs, and guarantee animal welfare.

Overall, employing IoT technology in farming is the most futuristic approach to overcome the food crisis and counter the increasing demands of a growing population. It has the potential to revolutionize the industry and address some of the challenges encountered by farmers, like limited resources, growing demand, climate change, etc.

We all are very well aware of the significant issue of this era: climate change. The changing climate is hammering productivity and leading to the food crisis. On the other hand, the uncontrollably growing population is amplifying the issue. The only possible way to control both major issues is to adopt the most potent solution that can resolve both issues hand in hand. The adoption of IoT in farming is the most extensive way to overcome both challenges. Not only in farming, but IoT can also be used to control carbon emissions and contribute to slowing down the rapidly changing climate. IoT also helps provide a better lifestyle by offering smart houses, cities, buildings, hospitals, and the list goes so on.

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admin
July 11, 2023
Technology

How can Sustainability Change the Industrial Data Architecture? 

Sustainability should not just be correlated to environmental policies; this term is now essential to business and life today. It is now just beyond the govt policies. Today, supply chain partners, customers, regulators, and investors are more focused on environmentally friendly products and asking for environmental accountability from manufacturers. Obviously, the reason is to protect the environment. The changing climate, increasing carbon emissions, and their after-effects have forced us to rethink the manufacturing models.

International Energy Agency states that the manufacturing and power sectors cause around 63% of energy-related CO2 emissions globally. But changes and progress depend entirely upon their success. Luckily, manufacturing has reached a long way since the third industrial revolution, which saw changes in automation and productivity without thinking about environmental impact. The fourth industrial revolution, which is popularly known as Industry 4.0, has provided manufacturers with more precise and detailed insight into their operational efficiencies. Network-connected assets enable real-time monitoring of performance metrics that integrate with more sustainable production. However, this type of connection or connectivity presents a new challenge that is- managing data more efficiently.

What are the challenges in achieving sustainability?

Handling emissions and data-center energy consumption means manufacturers must manage sustainability on two fronts. The first place is managing it in their operations. In Europe, Industry is one of the main reasons, or we can say a significant contributor to greenhouse gases.

At a global level, industrial processes are also the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, rising by 203% since 1990. To slow this highly speedy trend and accelerate the progress on reducing CO2 emissions and achieving net zero, industrial companies must learn operational data management and pull insights from that data. However, this seems easy but is actually very challenging. As per IDC’s first Worldwide Energy Transition Survey conducted in June 2022 (#US49548622),45% of respondents mentioned a lack of good data on energy usage and CO2 emissions as an obstacle to progress.

Therefore, industrial companies must gather high-quality data from various sources for sustainability and other operational use cases. Unfortunately, this leads to the second challenge- While reducing operational carbon, are we increasing carbon consumption from the vast data we store and process in the cloud?

Data processing and storage must be a combination of the sustainability equation. Stanford Magazine says saving and storing 100 gigabytes of data in the cloud generates around 0.2 tons of CO2 annually. According to Standford’s calculation, if a factory generated 1TB of data daily and saved all this data to the cloud, the site would create 365,000 gigabytes or 730 tons of CO2 yearly. In a large manufacturer with around 60 sites, the factory would create 43,800 tons of CO2 emissions yearly for data processing and storage alone. To understand this perspective in simple words, we can say that it is equivalent to nearly 10,000 passengers vehicles on the road yearly.

Manufacturers must evaluate their total carbon footprint with a strategy that can address both points of this two-fold challenge. Data is undoubtedly essential for visibility, and the cloud is vital for scale. Therefore, data must be collected, processed, analyzed, and utilized correctly to achieve genuinely sustainable manufacturing.

Beginning with a sustainable architecture:

DataOps (data operations) orchestrates people, processes, and technology to safely deliver reliable, ready-to-use data to all who need it. DataOps provides an agile, automated, and process-oriented methodology that data stakeholders use to enhance data and analytics’ quality, delivery, and management.

An Industrial DataOpS solution is an application designed especially for industrial data and systems. Industrial DataOps is a new type of software solution that acknowledges the industrial’s evolving data architecture needs as they adopt Industry 4.0, Digital Transformation, and Smart Manufacturing. They allow manufacturers to create and stream valuable industrial data to the cloud, where it can analyze for sustainability use cases.

Users can prepare, integrate, and standardize data at the edge to guarantee that only logical, usable information payloads are furnished to the cloud. It lessens unnecessary data storage and processing costs while accelerating the adoption of advanced analytics services from vendors like AWS and Microsoft. We can mark the example of Pulp and paper manufacturer Georgia-Pacifi over here. It is a company that potentially used an Industrial DataOps solution, HighByte Intelligence Hub, to achieve its sustainability ambitions.

What’s coming up:

Today, we can quickly notice that sustainability use cases for Industrial DataOps are booming. It is obvious that Industrial DataOps will become a critical architectural component to assist companies in reducing emissions, cutting energy consumption, optimizing grid and alternative energy usage, decreasing digital waste, and optimizing processes.

Also, manufacturing sustainability is not limited to reducing CO2 and SO2 emissions. By decreasing defects and scrap using standard Lean and Six Sigma methods, companies can also help in their sustainability goals by spending less power per unit and potentially increasing production. These projects will allow customers to progress on their sustainability initiatives- and enhance their bottom line.

So, what’s your sustainable manufacturing strategy? Are you using your operational data smartly or creating digital waste?

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Energy Harvesting and IIoT- Sustainability for the IIoT
admin
September 19, 2022
IoT, Technology

Energy Harvesting and IIoT: Sustainability for the Industrial IoT

The world is encountering tremendous economic and ecological changes along with challenges. The futuristic technologies are all set to transform the outlook of Internet of Things (IoT). Today energy supply to millions of communicating devices is a key issue. 

On a large scale, renewable energies have become a major source of energy generation. Fields embracing solar cells that generate energy using sunlight or wind turbines dominate the landscape. This renewable energy for energy generation is also embraced on a small scale. This entire concept is called “energy harvesting.” 

Small energy converters harvest energy from light, movement, or temperature differences. These harvested energies are enough to power a wireless sensor and transmit data using radio. 

Energy harvesting for radio-based products that are already part of mass production includes four different sources:

  • Motion – the press on a switch, moving machine parts, the rotary motion of a handle.
  • Light– the sunlight coming inside a room.
  • Temperature differences – existing between a heat source like a boiler, radiator, or pipes and the environment and variation between day and night.
  • Electromagnetic field – a contactless coil in a cage clamp around a cable controls the meter and calculates the line current.

For each source, different energy converters with different power parameters are present. The energy generation type and the corresponding power yield determine the possible sensor applications.

Enhanced Sustainability:

With the introduction of energy harvesting technology, radio sensors are sustainable as they don’t require cabling or battery power. They are environment friendly as well as cut expenditure.

Replacing a single battery typically costs around $300 US dollars in an industrial environment. Though changing the battery does not consume much time, traveling to the site, locating the sensor, testing the device, and documenting the process increases the labor cost. It is believed that batteries have a good service life, but in reality, companies are often engaged in changing them within one or two years to avoid early failures.

Today, resource-saving and environmental protection are the top priority. The rising cost of copper, the presence of harmful components, and battery safety are some serious issues. Wireless energy harvesting sensors are the best solution that considers both the financial aspect and environmental protection.

In Process for The Industry:

Sensors play a key role in industrial production. They can be used for quality and process monitoring or condition-based maintenance. A wide range of applications is developing in the direction of an industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) with the increasing usage of wireless sensors. Integrating energy-saving radio with local energy converters,battery-free and maintenance-free sensors can be installed directly on moving parts or in hermetically-sealed environments. For instance, it can be implanted to know the position of moving parts, power consumption, temperature of moving parts, liquids, or gases.

Sensors in Quality Control:

Quality monitoring manages the entire production process and ensures the desired properties of the end product based on different parameters.

For this purpose, environmental factors like temperature, humidity, and air quality or process factors like position or temperature are monitored.

Automated monitoring systems require data generated by sensors; for this purpose, sensors must fit seamlessly into existing production processes. Additionally, they must not need special training or generate follow-up costs in the ongoing operation. Therefore the integration of self-powered and maintenance-free sensors provides benefits.

Condition-based Maintenance with Battery-free Sensors:

Besides products, machines also need proper monitoring to ensure a seamless production process. These are prone to high wear, so it would be best to identify problems as soon as possible and take appropriate actions to maintain continuous quality assurance and protection against production downtime.

A primary problem with maintenance planning is the calculation of the intervals between each maintenance cycle. Normally, the interval between two maintenance dates must be as short as possible to detect deviations before any mishappening occurs. Still, each maintenance involves high costs for personnel and idle machines.

It is often possible to derive valuable information by closely examining a few simple parameters. For instance, a temperature rise can indicate higher friction, thus resulting into wear. Wireless temperature sensors can be installed for measurement processes. Humidity sensors monitor water leakage to prevent water damage. Temperature and humidity sensors also inform about air conditions and guarantee good air quality. That is why wireless energy harvesting sensors are best for various industrial applications. They are low maintenance, flexible, and within budget to install.

That is why wireless energy harvesting sensors are ideal for various industrial applications. They are maintenance-free, flexible, and inexpensive to install – outstanding features for assuring high-quality standards and greater sustainability in the Industry 4.0 environment.

IoT in the Factory Building:

IoT allows significantly efficient, adaptable, and individualized production in manufacturing. Using sensors networked with a smart IoT platform, it is now possible to develop a digital twin, i.e., an exact virtual image of a machine throughout its entire life cycle. Digitalization is becoming a part of buildings and will revolutionize them by providing automated service processes in facility management, higher energy savings, and better individual well-being for users. One important thing for factory buildings and industrial processes is battery-free wireless sensors.

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How will IoT Make Building Smart and Greener
admin
June 20, 2022
IoT, Technology

How will IoT Make Building Smart and Greener?

Smart building technology is becoming a new fashion, fuelled by a global need for better sustainability, reduced waste, and optimal use of resources.

Smart buildings are accessorized with technological advancements of the latest technology, i.e., the Internet of Things, to manage resources, assets, and services effectively, boosting building operations, energy consumption and resource management, and overall resident experience.

Today, buildings are responsible for around 38 percent of global CO2 emissions and 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption; therefore, remodeling buildings’ energy consumption and sustainability are vital to meeting global climate goals.

To adapt this remodeling has already been made clear by U.S. President Biden’s administration, who informed the Buildings Performance Standards Coalition in January. It will be a first-of-its-kind partnership between 33 states and local governments working hard to deliver cleaner, healthier, and more energy-efficient buildings.

The process of optimizing energy consumption in the building sector is a gigantic undertaking; it can begin at the smallest level, i.e., from the tiny chips that power the IoT.

Smart buildings integrate IoT technology into many areas- from digitizing people’s flow and space usage to reconstructing water supply networks. One of the biggest prospects for smart buildings is revolutionizing energy consumption, beginning with smart energy distribution systems and smart HVAC equipment.

Smart Energy Distribution Systems:

Traditional energy distribution systems are positioned in a unidirectional fashion in which energy is expected to flow from generators into loads. 

Usually, power plants generate energy and collect it in the urban centers of these systems.

The introduction and utilization of renewable energy sources like solar and wind have changed the picture of the energy distribution as the energy distribution system has to permit omnidirectional energy flow. A building that consumed energy could now integrate rooftop solar panels to produce and return excess energy into the grid.

Smart energy allocation systems authorize this omnidirectional energy flow and facilitate the integration of renewable distributed energies to collect energy back into the power grid. This whole system reduces energy consumption by enhancing the system’s efficiency and even uncloses a distributed energy generation model. Buildings are becoming energy producers and giving up their earlier character that is consuming energy, ultimately shifting towards green energy.

Advanced sensors and wireless IoT technologies are laying the foundation for smart energy grid transformation, where smart buildings play a pivotal role in fostering a greener, more connected power grid to shape a more sustainable future.

Smart HVAC Systems:

Smart HVAC systems are exciting evolution in smart buildings, which provides energy efficiency, air quality, and resident comfort. With the hit of the COVID-19 pandemic, vendors are looking at a shortened HVAC upgrade cycle. Dealers and distributors are integrating their HVAC systems with new and smart technologies. Today, when everything is shaping into a smart version, building residents are now expecting granular control of HVAC settings in each room and area of their building. In this situation, IoT is a savior as it adds a new level to the comfort experience inside the buildings.

Motorized vents and dampers integrated with wireless connectivity to phones and tablets allow residents to set the temperature and the CO2, humidity, and air quality. Building managers can also benefit from IoT connectivity to know the room occupancy, reduce energy usage, and optimize energy use throughout the premises.

Monitoring Building Health:

Monitoring building health is another important aspect of smart building growth areas. More environmental sensors are being added to buildings beyond traditional temperature and humidity. These sensors control smart dampers for better airflow and outdoor air exchange, manage connected equipment for predictive maintenance to avoid equipment failure, flow meters for real-time leak detection, gas sensors to detect air particles, and many other things.

We are already familiar with connected fire and smoke detection sensors, but with the addition of the latest technology, we can witness more wireless connectivity with long-range wireless and Bluetooth to develop an installer interface.

All three major applications, i.e., energy management, fire safety, and building health monitoring add more connectivity and digital capability.

The Importance of Reliability and Cybersecurity:

Well, aside from the great benefits offered by smart building, there are some challenges faced by smart building to be dealt with with skilled engineering.

The first challenge is technological: wireless networks of such complex systems should be reliable and stable. Though wireless mesh network technology is highly adept, vendors and manufacturers are required to ensure the reliability of their products to estimate the true potential of wireless networks in building environments.

Integrating wireless networks makes buildings vulnerable to cyber attacks. Silicon vendors and product manufacturers have stepped up their cybersecurity game to combat such threats. Uncompromised efforts and constant focus on security while developing and distributing smart solutions will be highly helpful in transforming the building sector.

A Smarter, Greener Future:

The best part about smart buildings is that they are not limited to just brand new structures; these buildings can be retrofitted with smart technology as well. Implementing wireless connectivity in existing systems allows for smooth adoption and speeds up the adoption of wireless communications in buildings.

The initiation of both public and private sectors to improve energy use in the building sector signifies that the coming years will be the era of smart building adoption. Today, when it has become important to reduce CO2 emissions in all sectors and maximize energy efficiency and consumption, the employment of the latest technology and the use of IoT in buildings can charter the way to sustainability and improve the quality of life for individuals and group level.

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