A report suggests that communication among everyday household machines, also called as "Internet of things," can possibly help fight climate change by saving energy and cutting carbon emissions.
According to the USA Today, Americans consume about 1.9 billion gallons of fuel from drivers sitting in traffic per year. That's an astounding 186 million tons of unnecessary CO2 emissions each year in the United States alone. Now, imagine if you can receive feedback on your car telling you that there is another route you can use with little or no traffic.
Machine-to-machine communication, or the "Internet of things," is the ability of machines to connect with each other through different devices or sensors.
Through the communication of cars, appliances, generators and phones, each machine will be able to receive feedbacks to know efficient travel routes, manage lighting, heating and cooling systems at home or office and sustainable water consumption.
According to recent report by Carbon War Room, an estimated reduction of 9.1 gigatons to global greenhouse gas emissions will take effect when machine-to-machine communication is included in the energy, agriculture, transportation, and built environment (or buildings) industries.
The machine-to-machine communication is gaining attention from investors. In fact Google paid Nest Labs, a smart-thermostat company $3.2 billion for machines that allow customers to manage their cooling and heating systems in their households. These can also give feedback regarding energy demand during peak hours.
Estimates suggest that this industry can reach annual revenues as high as $948 billion. Google also invested in the transportation scene with Open Auto Alliance, a group of car manufacturers and technology groups to produce self-driving vehicles that can communicate with each other.
UN's Environment Programme states that the annual anthropological greenhouse gas emissions would need to decrease by 15 percent. Based on current emissions and the from Carbon War Room's report's 9.1 gigaton estimate, it would be enough to reduce global emissions by 18 percent.
The Internet of things is a great opportunity not only to effectively address the carbon emissions from human activities, but also for the creation of a new market that is lucrative and beneficial to the economy.
