Vodafone Qatar, the Communications Partner of the Qatar Sustainability Week 2017, has showcased at the event how the Internet of Things (IoT) is having a profound impact on the world of sustainability.
Vodafone provided its fifth annual IoT Barometer Report to attendees, and Vodafone’s team were on hand to discuss how the desire to drive down costs by driving up efficiency using IoT technologies is having a huge effect on the sustainability practices across major industries with adopters reporting 38% increased sustainability.
The Barometer reveals that the number of large-scale IoT projects doubled in the last year with more than 50,000 connected devices active. Energy and utility companies are at the forefront of the largest IoT projects worldwide with over a third (35%) of organisations already using IoT.
The use of applications such as smart meters and pipeline monitoring are helping to optimise power generation and consumption, while ensuring environmental sustainability including reducing greenhouse emissions (GHG). Vodafone Qatar CEO Ian Gray said: “Vodafone is a world leader in IoT. Over time, IoT technologies will transform every industry, most public services, and many aspects of consumers’ daily lives.
“By bringing intelligent interconnection and network control to previously ‘dumb’ disconnected devices and services, numerous products and processes in the workplace and at home will become significantly more efficient and reliable with a positive impact on energy and fuel consumption and therefore GHG emissions.”
Vodafone’s research found that 84% of IoT adopters say their use of IoT has grown in the last year and 66% of businesses surveyed agree that digital transformation is impossible without IoT. Key examples of IoT applications include smart metering, using IoT technology to collect and analyse data on energy use in real time. Smart meters help energy providers, businesses and municipal authorities to optimise power generation and consumption. They also help households reduce their energy needs (and their energy bills).
Another example are smart cities – bringing networked intelligence to the civil infrastructure relied upon by the world’s growing urban populations through applications such as road traffic management and advanced street lighting.
Also, smart logistics, which is embedding IoT technologies within delivery vehicles to optimise route management, vehicle maintenance, and driver behaviour – applications that can reduce fuel consumption by up to 30%.
Vodafone estimates that more than 40% of the more than 50mn IoT connections operated by Vodafone directly enable their customers to reduce their emissions. Vodafone expects the total number of Vodafone IoT connections to increase over time.
Vodafone also expects further increases in the number of those connections that have a direct and positive GHG emissions impact. Vodafone also estimates that the total GHG emissions avoided as a consequence of their IoT technologies and services was 4.9mn tonnes CO2e in 2017. The main areas in which the greatest CO2e savings are enabled were in smart meters and logistics and fleet management.

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