Greentech Software Solutions

Clean technology (also called cleantech, green technology, and greentech) is a set of different technologies that optimize and reduce the use of natural resources. At the same time, they are designed to reduce the negative effects technology has on the planet and its many ecosystems.

Examples of cleantech technologies are new sustainable energy sources such as solar, wind, wave power, as well as improved conventional energy production solutions such as the smart electric grid. Cleantech solutions aim to slow down climate change and sometimes even reduce the damage done to the environment in the past.

It’s critical that cleantech solutions are economically viable and potentially profitable. This is the key condition that attracts investment and funds required for their further development.

Moreover, today many new cleantech technologies might be considered unprofitable due to the relatively low price of oil. However, they might become more interesting to investors in the future when oil prices become increasingly volatile. That’s why cleantech solutions need to be considered profitable in the wider variety of criteria in comparison to other types of technology investments.

Climate and market forecasts count on cleantech in the hope that new solutions will outweigh their risks and that some investors and funding agents still consider investing in them.

The current critical sectors in the cleantech industry are:

• energy and power,
• agriculture and food,
• transportation,
• sustainable energy and energy optimization for reducing the dependence on fossil fuel,
• provision of clean water to everyone who needs it,
• reduction of air pollution,
• recycling and waste management.

Let’s take a closer look at four of these sectors to understand the unique characteristics and objectives of the cleantech industry better.

Sustainable energy and energy optimization

Many technologies are being developed now to enable using sustainable sources of energy or optimizing energy usage to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Examples of such technologies are:

• Wind power – a sustainable resource typically exploited in the form of large wind farms, often found offshore. A wind farm is a large group of individual wind turbines that are connected together to generate electricity without producing any greenhouse gas emissions.
• Hydroelectric power – it uses the gravitational force of water falling or flowing to produce electricity. Once constructed, hydroelectric power plants produce extremely low levels of emissions.
• Solar energy – at the moment, we use a host of new techniques for generating electricity from solar energy. For example, photovoltaics uses semiconductive materials to convert light into electrical current. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors to focus the beam of light onto a small area, convert it into heat and drive a heat engine to generate electricity.
• Geothermal energy – this refers to the heat from the Earth itself. It can be used to heat up water, drive the heat engine, and generate electricity. Geothermal systems in buildings can capture the Earth’s thermal energy for space heating.
• Smart energy solutions – these are the solutions allowing for optimizing the energy usage by introducing connected energy consumption, responsive energy supply, and automated energy distribution thanks to the Internet of Things.
• Energy reduction solutions – these technologies aim to reduce energy usage from the demand side with the help of automated systems, sustainable development, sustainable building management, and human behavior management.

Clean water

• Water treatment – the treatment of raw water for ensuring that it’s safe for human consumption.
• Wastewater treatment – these are technologies that allow converting wastewater into water that can be entered into the water cycle or reused.

Pollution

• Pollution monitoring – this area refers to the installation of air monitoring stations used throughout entire countries and continents that provide annual reports on the volume of pollution in different geographical locations. Sometimes these systems use satellites and drones to create accurate monitoring reports.

Recycling and waste treatment

• Consumer waste recycling – recycling technologies for recycling consumer products that deal with the product in postconsumer states to ensure that they don’t end up in landfills.
• Treatment of toxic waste – treatment of waste such as chemicals or hazardous waste that needs to be treated carefully.

Investors and venture capitalists interested in environmentally friendly startups and technologies can now choose from many different options—these range from diversified portfolios to individual companies.

When it comes to publicly traded companies, most cleantech businesses are involved in renewable energy production such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. Examples of such companies are Terraform Power based in New York City and Alterra Power based in Toronto, Canada. Investors can also choose diversified investment vehicles such as the publicly traded limited partnership Brookfield Renewable Partners.

Another real-life consequence of cleantech is the rise of jobs that are related to this newly developed technology. For example, cleantech companies offer jobs such as solar panel installers, civil and process engineers, specialist technicians, and manufacturing personnel. Another fast-growing area of employment is specialists who maintain wind turbines. According to a report from Yahoo, solar panel installer was the fastest-growing job category in eight different states in the United States. The same report estimated that the number of such jobs would more than double by 2026.

As global markets transform and nontraditional markets rise, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of how functional a product or service will be in the future. The shifts in the cleantech industry have become clear to brands all over the world, especially ones directed at consumers. The largest startups in the world – Uber, and Airbnb – were built to address the challenges of resource-intensive sectors such as transportation and housing. The former is especially important from the perspective of cleantech.

Consumer cleantech refers to products and services that save natural resources by creating new ones that are more flexible, cheaper, and have a lesser impact on the natural environment. Consumer cleantech companies deliver value using models such as upcycling and refurbishment, dematerialization and smart substitution, optimization, and sharing. Uber’s ride-sharing model is a great example of the latter. And Tesla’s incredible achievements in electric and self-driving cars are an excellent example of optimization.

From the consumer’s viewpoint, innovation in consumer cleantech is closely related to the largest resource-consuming activities such as transportation, food, and housing. That’s what makes them so economically appealing to individual consumers who are now making more environmentally-conscious choices – not only because they’re more attractive but also because they’re becoming increasingly cost-effective.

Around the world, startups are now transforming the global energy sector, which is the most pressing issue for the entire planet. Today, we rely on a significant amount of reliable energy to power our world filled with digital devices. Moreover, as a population, we are becoming more conscious about the impact this has on the environment.

As a result, many consumers and businesses have new motivation to prevent damage to our environment and the planet. This is where different technologies come in, and their development is closely related to the rise of the cleantech sector. Here are the key technologies cleantech uses today to build the world of tomorrow.

Internet of Things (IoT)

Clean energy is a critical goal of many cleantech projects. However, it’s thanks to the Internet of Things that businesses can finally open the door to a low-cost and simple way to adopt clean technologies across multiple industries.

Relatively cheap sensors can now be used to collect environmental data for later analysis. With the help of other critical technologies – artificial intelligence, Big Data, and machine learning – such solutions offer accurate insights into energy use or consumer habits. They also make predictions that can further help in planning and energy optimization – such IoT-based systems are more streamlined and efficient in reducing the unnecessary use of nonrenewable energy.

The partnership between IoT and clean technology is a fruitful one, providing a host of feasible solutions for nonrenewable energy use. IoT is a technology that makes a clean and fully autonomous clean energy process a possibility for us.

Artificial intelligence and Big Data

IoT is a key technology for collecting data. However, data is only as valuable as the insights we can gather from it. This is where Big Data, artificial intelligence, and its subset, machine learning, come in.

Businesses need to analyze data from diverse sources, often related to a number of different industries. The use of Big Data is already having a significant impact on the energy sector. AI-powered solutions for predictive monitoring influence the market for renewable energy technologies such as solar or wind energy.

Smart city

The concept of smart cities as technology clusters that enable smarter and more sustainable citizen services and experiences is also important for cleantech. It’s rapidly transforming from concept to reality as more and more municipalities and governments embrace smart city technologies.

Thanks to the implementation of IoT and Big Data solutions that process data, cities can take advantage of many new benefits:

• By using smart electric grids, they can monitor for and predict energy usage in different parts of the city.
• They can implement waste management systems to understand to increase their efficiency. Buildings and be equipped with smart garbage collection stations where residents can dispose of their waste separated into combustible and organic. The IoT-powered station can be equipped with sensors to detect when the station is full and send the trash automatically through a high-pressure pipe straight to the recycling center.
• They can combine different smart functions in one solution. For example, London installed a system of intelligent street lights that function as Wi-Fi spots and include a surveillance camera, charging outlet for electric cars, and can even measure air quality.