Climate change is here and as the world continues to show concerns about its effects on the planet and seek ways to mitigate it, there have been talks about completely ditching fossil fuels and adopting renewable energy.
In addition to that, the world is consuming more energy than it was a few years ago and expectedly so.
The good news is that solar power and wind energy are replacing the conventional sources of creating energy and the switch to renewable energy sources will revamp our energy production, distribution, and consumption.
As the world makes this transition towards smart energy solutions, these four (4) technologies are leading the energy revolution:
Cloud Computing
The emergence of cloud computing in the data center industry is a force for sustainability in the energy sector.
Cloud computing facilitates on-demand network access, using a network of easily accessible and configurable computing resources that can be managed without requiring much physical hardware or supervision.
Beyond its benefits like cost reduction, easier management, expanded accessibility, higher efficiency, and enhanced processing capabilities, cloud computing has eco-friendly elements which makes it a major renewable energy driver.
In fact, expert analysis shows that the widespread adoption of cloud computing might result in a 38% reduction in worldwide data center energy outflows. How?
Cloud computing virtualizes resources which means a single physical server machine can concurrently operate a pool of operating system computers in different locations. This reduces energy consumption, results in fewer machines and less hardware.
Therefore, the amount of space required for the data center as well as the amount of e-waste generated will lessen. That way, the decreased energy use will help businesses reduce their carbon footprint, making the transition to a cleaner ecosystem seamlessly.
Blockchain
As the structure of energy supply systems is rapidly taking a decentralized form, people are generating and consuming their own electricity.
However, low capacity — which includes the increasing complications of control, the load on the network infrastructure, and the high requirements on data security — is resulting in the inability of these people to participate in electricity trading. This is where blockchain comes in.
Blockchain has high medium and long-term potentials to revolutionize the energy sector and lead the development of new, independently developed digital business models including peer-to-peer trading of decentralized renewable energy based on service.
This can be achieved if there are no regulatory constraints and it exists as a service model.
Internet of Things (IoT)
As energy consumption management becomes individualistic, it becomes necessary to seek sustainable energy choices and scalable solutions to optimize energy usage.
IoT can help with real-time predictive analytics and remote asset management which includes predictive maintenance and asset utilization, leading to reduced cost.
It can also be used to optimize the maintenance and performance of distributed grids and detect the variations in energy creation and consumption in order to achieve precision in their maintenance and management.
Smart grids that are powered with smart IoT-powered sensors can help in reducing the downtime and the impending costs that come along with it. IoT can also be used to detect hazards and prevent repercussions in such cases.
Finally, IoT-based smart meters can effectively provide detailed data and report on energy usage, detect what consumes the most power, and optimize their energy use.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
As energy systems rapidly change and become complex due to the phasing out of fossil fuels and the expansion of renewable energies.
With AI applications, however, these increasing complexities will be effectively controlled and optimized. The possible applications of artificial intelligence in the energy industry are manifold and often not only have a positive influence on the success of the energy revolution but also make sense from a business point of view.
Ultra-modern machine learning is assisting AI to improve efficiency, forecasting, and user accessibility. How?
Since electricity is a commodity, power brokers, sellers, and buyers in the energy market constantly analyze massive amounts of data — from weather forecasting to grid demand/supply balance — for the market to function efficiently. This gives people with the ability to effectively use these data a huge advantage over others.
Also, there are smart meters that provide data about a consumer’s energy consumption — monitoring and controlling devices, communicating with other household devices, saving money by reducing energy waste, controlling lighting, etc. — so that they can better manage their energy usage.
Conclusion
Having considered some emerging technologies championing the energy revolution, one thing becomes clear. It does the climate a whole lot of good and benefits nature in numerous ways when organizations adopt renewable energy and conserve scarce resources.
Taking a look at all these technologies, one can see that leaning towards renewable energy sources in enhancing their performance will lead to their reliability and resilience in the long run.