How IT cities help control environmental issues

Environment

Humans as a species have evolved from caves to lavish apartments. Humanity went through several ages; each era left a mark on the growth, evolution, and understanding of the species about life and better ways of living a life. Each generation made us more resilient, more careful, and more luxury prone.

Currently, the population of the world has exceeded the 7 billion mark. That makes almost 15 people per square kilometer. This number might not seem significant but think of it in the prospect that humans are a social species and tend to live in groups. A result is several settlements appearing every here and there, destroying the natural habitats for the trees, animals, and birds, and other living organisms.

If we account for littering and destruction of agricultural land, the situation becomes more alarming. Settlements in underdeveloped areas are more dangerous than they seem to eat up the vital land resource for food production.

The solution to all this is the design and development of IT powered smart city. The integrated systems in these cities will help the residents to adopt intelligent and sustainable practices. 

Here’s how IT-powered smart cities can help contain environmental issues.

Vertical not horizontal

As the population boom begins to ravage the cities and towns worldwide, governments are concerned about the land required to cater to the vast populations. Many modern governments are trying to bring in legislation to limit land acquisitions for the new colonies and housing projects. Instead, they are encouraging the developers to build up building projects that can cater to many people and occupy a limited area of land.

The trend of smart buildings is also helping the national grids to depend less on conventional energy sources. Buildings are now designed to generate their electricity, handle their own trash by incineration and reuse water. The IT systems installed in these smart cities are helping the governments in environmental conservation efforts.

Fewer cars, more green

One of the essential dissertation topics is to incorporate AI-driven integrated vehicles for public transportation. Current public transit systems rely on the utilization of fossil fuel and conventionally produced electricity. Smart cities aim to develop integrated transportation systems that utilize green fuels or renewable energy sources to move the public from one place to another in a highly efficient manner. That can be achieved with the help of AI and machine learning.

The smart cities will aim to reduce the number of cars on the road to reduce pollution and also decrease the traffic rush on the roads. This will also help to achieve reduced noise pollution, air pollution, and faster traveling times.

Renewable energy is the only future. 

The IT cities are mostly running on non-conventional energy sources like solar energy, wind energy, and harvesting energy from waves. The total energy demand globally in cities is around 75%, whereas only 55% of the population resides in the cities. Making cities energy efficient is the need of the hour to cause less impact on the environment. 

Cities can be made energy efficient by incorporating AI-based solutions to regulate energy consumptions in homes and offices. 

Ban on plastic consumption

One of the most dangerous impacts on the land and aquatic ecosystem is posed by plastic and its various forms. Various sources claim that there are islets of plastic trash floating around in the ocean, posing a striking threat to marine life.

Smart cities are banning the use of plastic, especially plastic that is nonreusable and is used only for packaging like wrapping materials, shopping bags, and bottles. Many researchers aim to produce reusable packaging materials, and multiple cities worldwide have banned plastic shopping bags.

The shopping bags not only add to littering but also clog the sewerage and drains. The issue doesn’t stop here, as these plastics can survive for hundreds of years.

Efficient waste management

IT cities can manage the waste well. The waste management in unorganized settlements doesn’t have any proper waste disposal systems planned. Waste management systems are essential to keep the environment clean. Waste can attract pests and become breeding grounds for germs that can pose a significant threat to human and animal health.

Advanced tech has made it possible to map out roads for waste collection vehicles to follow. That not only makes it possible to process the waste and recycled items that must be processed, but it also makes it more environmentally friendly. It also decreases energy demand and makes processing more fuel-efficient.

The ability to convert waste into actual electricity is one of the most significant advances in the waste management sector. Specific forms of debris may be turned into electricity rather than winding up in a landfill. New “digesters” can take biogas and waste, it makes and converts it to electricity that can be consumed on the spot. Meat, animal waste, farm leftovers, and other wastes can all be processed using this technology.

Another latest technique that can be used to process waste into specialty goods is thermal conversion. This method borrows ideas from natural geothermal methods, which employ pressure and heat to transform waste into usable goods. It could be used to process waste into nutrients, fertilizers, fuels, and other items that will give your garbage a second chance at life.

Singapore collects the waste and incinerates it to produce electricity, and the city is producing a significant chunk of its daily power needs from the waste. Such measures can help countries to achieve and sustain their cities. 

Author:

Grace Griffin is a member of the writer’s Team on Essays uk and ResumeCroc. She has bachelor’s in Law, Masters in Literature, and a PhD in Economics. she wanted to explore all the possible subjects in the world. Still, she is afraid that she couldn’t do so. Grace is a technical writer and writes research-based content. As for her hobbies, she loves reading articles, blogs, magazines, newspapers and books.

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