How IoT is an essential tool against climate change

PAGE |6

HARNESSING IOT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

assess environmental conditions and any emerging trends. Air and water quality, noise pollution, pollen, and disaster forecasting are typical parameters being monitored. According to insights from Meticulous Market Research, the environmental monitoring market – covering hardware such as sensors, software, and applications like water and air pollution monitoring – is expected to reach $33.9 billion by 2031, marking a CAGR of 8.4%. The growth in this market can be attributed to increased investment in environmental monitoring to target pollution and the growing number of uses for IoT in this market. CENSIS (Centre of Excellence for Sensing, Imaging and IoT Technologies) is based in Glasgow and is focused on working with private and public organisations to overcome technological barriers. In May 2024, it collaborated with Aqsen Innovations to accelerate the development of its sensor system Aquasense. The plan for the sensor system is to use it for trials in Lake Victoria to monitor water quality in floodplains and agricultural land.

Optimising batteries to reduce their power consumption is an essential issue. Besides ensuring connected IoT devices operate for longer out in the field to collect critical data, batteries that have to be thrown away are contributing to a growing pile of electronic waste. A United Nations (UN) report published in March 2024 warned of an alarming rise in electronic waste; with 62 million tonnes produced in 2022. The challenges are clear, and only through harnessing valuable data can companies understand weather patterns, environmental conditions and how their utilities are performing, and facilitating all of this is IoT connectivity. To get at the heart of these challenges and learn more from the people delivering this connectivity, IoT Insider Editor Caitlin Gittins spoke to experts from CENSIS, Sigfox Hellas, Eseye, Kigen, Sateliot, and Sequans. Environmental monitoring is helping companies to understand how climate change is affecting the world around us. The scope for environmental monitoring is broad [2]. Simply put, it refers to the equipment and processes used to