There is no doubt about the human impact on the environment, and, unfortunately, it is not always beneficial. The negative effect became especially noticeable in light of the rapid industrial development of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Significant deterioration of the environment over the past years has forced many companies to think about their responsibility to our planet and society. Today most of the world corporations have already launched so-called green projects to conserve the Earth’s resources and protect the natural environment.
Green technologies are different solutions that help competently manage resources and reduce the negative impact on nature. For instance, it could be crop monitoring systems developed to benefit agriculture and increase its sustainability. The importance of green technologies cannot be overestimated in different industries.
The green technology market is quite fresh, but it’s getting a lot of attention and investment as people become more aware of climate change and the dwindling natural resources.
Smart Farming
In agriculture, green tech mostly lies under the umbrella of smart farm monitoring technologies. The agricultural sector will face serious challenges in the near future due to the growing world population. That is keeping in mind that natural resources like water and soil keep depleting. One way to solve these problems and increase the quality and quantity of agricultural products is through the use of smart technologies, including ones for effective crop monitoring.
Modern agricultural institutions collect a wealth of information: yields, soils, fertilizer application data, weather data, equipment stats, and animal health. The goal of the agricultural sector is to optimize processes, make efficient use of existing resources, increase production, and improve the sustainability of farming in general.
An example of a solution that can help with all that is EOSDA Crop Monitoring — a digital platform for farm management. The tool leverages the power of satellite crop monitoring to enable users to track and analyze the situation on their fields remotely. The features include plant health monitoring, weather tracking, VRA map generation, scouting management, equipment data visualization, and much more. With this all-in-one crop monitoring system, users can monitor and manage fields effectively by making reliable, data-based decisions.
Rainwater Harvesting Systems
If we analyze the daily consumption of water, even in urban areas, only a small part of it is used for drinking. Outside the city, taking into account agricultural and technical needs, the water requirements are much higher. And a significant part of them can be covered by rainwater harvesting. In an unstable rainfall distribution, rainwater harvesting also provides a reserve for dry periods to minimize the use of water from other sources for irrigation.
One method of rainwater harvesting is a rooftop collection system. The roof collection method can be used with many types of coverings and provide high-quality drinking water year-round. In addition, the water can be used for livestock, watering gardens, and agricultural irrigation purposes.
Advances in Renewable Energy
Renewable energy sources that can generate electricity from natural phenomena include sunlight, wind, water flow, biological processes, and geothermal heat flows. Renewable energy reduces carbon dioxide emissions and has significantly less environmental impact than fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas.
Waste-to-Energy Technology
Thousands of tons of garbage are thrown away every day, polluting our planet. To remedy this situation, various technologies are being created to recycle raw material waste. Many products are sent for recycling, where they are used to create new products. Such techniques make it possible to save on the costs of acquiring new raw materials, to get additional income from sales, and to clean the world from garbage components.
There are techniques that not only recycle waste but generate energy from it. For this purpose, specialized mechanisms are developed through which thermal resources and electricity are created. There are several ways in which waste can be converted into energy: incineration, thermochemical technology, physicochemical methods, and biochemical methods.
Carbon Capture Technology
Carbon capture is one of the green technologies proposed to be implemented at power plants and iron and steel plants, the chemical industry, oil and gas processing, and cement production. In other words, at the “dirtiest” industries in terms of carbon emissions. In fact, we’re talking about systems that capture carbon and then pump it into underground storage tanks. A whole new industry is being created, built on top of the fossil fuel industries.
Innovating in the Green Technologies Space
More and more companies are moving toward a zero-net strategy and readjusting their business processes to align with sustainability goals. Green tech companies are building products for major industries, aiming to make them more sustainable.
Agriculture is known to contribute to and suffer from the effects of climate change at the same time. To drive sustainability in this sector, companies offer green technologies or digital solutions that converge cutting-edge innovations, such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and satellite imaging.
EOS Data Analytics: Space Solutions for Earth problems
EOS Data Analytics (EOSDA) is among the companies at the forefront of bringing sustainable solutions through innovations. It is a global provider of AI-powered satellite data analytics for smart decision-making in agriculture, forestry, and other industries. EOSDA solutions leverage the combination of Earth observation data and artificial intelligence, enabling businesses’ growth with minimum damage to the environment.
The company envisions making space technology the driver of sustainability around the world. That’s why all the products by EOSDA are currently in line with 10 out of 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, helping to tackle climate change, prevent famine, and protect natural resources and biodiversity. These goals serve as guidelines for crafting new solutions or improving existing ones.
Greenpeace on Space Tech
In 2022, the user base of EOS Data Analytics’ products and services has grown to nearly 980,000 people. Additionally, the company has a wide partnership network, collaborating with governmental, private, and scientific organizations, and an Academic Outreach Program. This program simplifies access to EOSDA tools for students, scientists, and research groups who are on the path to finding solutions to pressing global issues.
Check out this video by EOS Data Analytics on YouTube:
Greenpeace on Guard of Forests
Greenpeace Global Mapping Hub is a branch of Greenpeace International that utilizes GIS, remote sensing, and mapping technologies to support research and global campaigns. In October 2022, the organization co-hosted a webinar with EOSDA describing how EOSDA Landviewer has helped them to combat environmental challenges in Argentina for three years straight.
During the webinar, the researcher Sergio Domingo representing the regional organization Greenpeace Andino shared the results of their work in Gran Chaco Americano. It is the second-largest forestland in South America, heavily affected by deforestation.
True to Greenpeace’s mission of exposing global environmental issues and promoting solutions for enabling a green future, their team has been monitoring forest loss using recent satellite imagery and remote sensing analysis in EOSDA Landviewer. Greenpeace Andino managed to track land use changes, create deforestation maps, and perform precise ground checkups to expose violations and share them in the mass media.
Innovations Solving Global Challenges
In the business world of today, profitability and sustainability go hand in hand. With this in mind, EOS Data Analytics puts its tech expertise to support the core mission of leveraging modern space technologies for the well-being of Earth.
One of the company’s products, EOSDA Landviewer offers satellite imagery from over 20 imaging providers, ranging from low to high-resolution data. Users can quickly search, visualize, analyze, and download images. Using remote sensing analysis, time series, and change detection features, they can derive insights and apply this information in their business, research, or elsewhere.
The tool enables all kinds of environmental monitoring. To name a few, it allows for measuring the extent of glacier shrinking, tracking forest fire damage, and estimating the scale of water bodies’ dry out due to climate change.
When it comes to farming, the precision agriculture platform EOSDA Crop Monitoring is the company’s go-to solution that drives sustainability. Early detection of stressed plants enables crop growers to take action and save the yields.
Vegetation and productivity maps encourage the optimal use of inputs for each zone, depending on plant requirements. This helps prevent the overuse of chemicals and soil and water pollution. The platform also provides access to historical weather data and helps track crop rotation, which is essential for smart ag operations planning.
By analyzing past seasons, field owners can identify field-specific factors that affect the productivity of croplands and make the right decisions. By picking the right planting dates or crop varieties to grow, they create the best conditions for growth and ultimately invest in global food security.
Social Projects to Protect the Well-being
On top of sustainability-driven solutions, EOS Data Analytics takes an active part in social initiatives in countries with limited access to technology. The team contributed to the mapping project in Chad, where indigenous communities fight over the limited water and land resources. A digital satellite data-derived map of a disputed area promoted dialogue between the locals and fair sharing of scarce resources.
Another case that caught the company’s attention was a massive oil spill into the Coca and Napo rivers in the Ecuadorian forests. It polluted water, affected flora and fauna, and disrupted the livelihood of indigenous people who live off those rivers. EOSDA ran a satellite image analysis of affected territories to support the research on the environmental consequences and encourage oil companies to utilize green technologies to make oil extraction safer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is green technology?
Green technologies embrace a variety of solutions that help competently manage resources and reduce the negative impact of human activity on nature. To name just a few, some of the most popular green-tech innovations include renewable energy, rainwater harvesting, waste-to-energy, and carbon capture.
What is smart farming?
Smart farming represents green tech solutions in agriculture. It focuses on managing farms using modern technologies (AI, satellites and drones, robotics) to increase the quantity and quality of output while minimizing environmental impact.
What are examples of sustainable smart farming solutions?
EOSDA Crop Monitoring by EOS Data Analytics is a smart farming platform that provides access to satellite imagery analytics and a wealth of field-related data to improve decision-making. Users get actionable insights from space to produce more with less and can control all field activities in one platform, saving time. Higher yields with minimum inputs and crop losses contribute to sustainability and food security.
References & Useful Resources
Greenpeace: Who We Are
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Carbon Capture
National Geographic: Renewable Energy
KPMG: Waste-to-Energy: Green Solutions for Emerging Markets
United Nations CTCN: Rainwater Harvesting