6 Ways How Technology Is Saving Our Earth

Over the last few decades, the development of technology has been phenomenal. People now are more dependent on technology than ever before. 

Although technology has been blamed for making people lazy at times, the fact is that it has also helped solve many serious problems. For example, technology has enabled us to communicate faster than ever, or has help add simple conveniences such as improving our living spaces in today's smart homes.

Today, technology is also helping the world take care of many environmental problems and helping the environment. Let us take a look at six ways in which technology is contributing towards sustainability, by helping the environment around us.

1.      The environmental changes and problems that we see today are primarily man-made in most cases. Many technological innovations are taking care of the issues and will continue to take care in the future. One of the innovations is using renewable energy more aggressively to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Developing new technologies, using renewable energy sources like hydroelectric, wind, solar, geothermal, etc., has become cheaper and widely available. Products like solar panels that look like roofing tiles are helping people accept new technologies faster.

2.      Digitization is also helping in saving the environment. The use of paper from billing impacts the environment massively. Digitization has solved this problem to a great extent because many people opt for email billing these days. The use of Smartphone for taking notes, etc., also solves the problem of using excess paper. 

3.      Environmental monitoring has become much easier thanks to the use of technology. Today, drones or unmanned aerial vehicles are being used to monitor areas seamlessly. Any illegal and environmentally destructive activities are getting recorded and monitored through the use of these drones. The government is also leveraging technology to monitor air pollution using instruments that pull air and check for air quality.

4.      Sharing is caring; we all learned this as children. Today, the sharing economy is growing thanks to the use of technology. Shared car services like Uber or shared office spaces are reducing the energy needs helping save the environment. Airbnb is assisting homeowners in using their unused spaces as vacation stays. Online video streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have reduced DVD rental, saving postage charges. 

5.      The development of electric cars has been a boon to the sustainable economy. Electric vehicles have been in the market for some time, but the cost was too high. The rising cost of fossil fuels and the dropping cost of electric cars make people consider moving to the latter. It is estimated that by 2022, the cost of owning an electric vehicle will be cheaper than that of a traditional car.

6.      Smart homes have used technology to save energy and also become trendier. Various gadgets like smart AC controllers and motion-activated lighting have changed the game altogether. These have reduced the electricity needs of a home phenomenally. 

With more technological advances in the offing, we can expect that it will pave the way for a greener world and save our earth from further ecological devastation.