IoT Is Making the World More Sustainable

It was clear to us that IoT Visions would be a special conference when a four-legged/four-wheeled robot drove past us through the entrance hall early in the morning, deftly and quickly navigating into the exhibition area. Throughout the rest of the day, one new IoT technology followed another and a tail of sustainability hung over everything. Reason enough to introduce you to some of these “Visions.” Many of them are already being implemented.

At first, it may sound paradoxical that an “Internet of Things” could make the world more sustainable. Many of us already own several devices in our private lives and sooner or later have to deal with their correct disposal. How can millions of industrial IoT devices be more sustainable?

The experts at the conference agreed that it is the batteries that make IoT devices unsustainable. Consequently, many manufacturers are aiming for solutions that do not require a battery and instead draw their energy directly from their environment.

Via so-called energy harvesting, devices can use sun and wind, for example, but also simply temperature differences or vibrations to generate the necessary energy for their operation. Dracula Technologies, a young company from France, has taken photovoltaics to a whole new level.

The company has patented carbon-based solar cells that can be designed completely freely in terms of their form factor and can also be attached as stickers, for example. At the same time, the cells also function in dark lighting conditions, such as indoors or in cloudy weather with a light intensity of less than 200 lux!

Technologies such as these should ensure that IoT devices can be operated independently of batteries in the medium to long term, which will significantly reduce resource consumption and also disposal costs.

It is not just the devices themselves that are becoming more sustainable, but entire industries. Thanks to expanded sensor technology and area-wide connectivity, water valves, for example, can be monitored and leaks in the supply line detected earlier.

HAWLE Armaturen specializes in the production and implementation of such IoT solutions. In addition to the early detection of leaks, expanded sensor technology can also be used to monitor hydrants or control network utilization in a more targeted manner in the event of increased consumption.

The effect of these sensors is great, as HAWLE vividly calculates at the conference: Even a leak or leaking faucet with one drop per minute leads to a water loss of 3120 liters per year.

The sensors are connected via current IoT connection networks and the mobile network. A valuable advance in protecting what is arguably the most precious resource of us all.

Different connectivity requirements are also the rule for IoT solutions. With different transmission standards and equally different interfaces, it is not always easy to find the right solution.

Digital Republic shines wherever flexibility, expanded device management and the bandwidth of LTE or 5G are needed. Thanks to our flexible tariff model, even individual prototypes (for example, the aforementioned robot from the intro) can be connected to the Internet quickly and easily, even if only a low transmission rate is required.

In the Digital Republic customer portal, all connected devices can be clearly managed, new SIM cards can be ordered, or current SIM cards can be paused or deactivated. Without a minimum contract term or notice period and, if desired, also as an eSIM.

We will go into more detail on other interesting IoT Visions cases in later articles. Stay tuned!