Why We Need Green Technology
Green technology has been around for the past two decades, but it’s recently gaining more popularity as the need to address global warming becomes more urgent. In fact, the green tech and sustainability market was valued at $8.79 billion in 2019, and it is expected to reach $48.36 billion by 2027. That’s a growth rate of 24.3% in a span of 8 years.
From electric scooters to using green appliances, green tech has tapped on a range of sectors to help the environment. However, green tech’s growth is not surprising, given that it is the solution to overcoming current environmental challenges, such as global warming, greenhouse gases, and wildlife conservation, among others. Green technology aims to replace materials, processes, or products that harm the environment with solutions that do not disrupt or deplete natural resources.
However, do we really need green technology? Doesn’t technology already harm the environment? On the contrary, technology provides solutions when used correctly and properly. So, here are the reasons why we need to implement them more than ever.
Reduces carbon emissions
In the UK alone, the transportation sector produces 28 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, and it is the largest contributor of harmful gases. These include emissions from cars, trains, planes, and ships. To reduce the production of greenhouse gases, using electric vehicles have become a popular and growing solution for greener transportation.
One of the most popular electric vehicles used worldwide is eco electric scooters. Thanks to ride-sharing services such as Lime and Bird, the public can find available public electric scooters in Australia, the UK, the US, France, and Singapore, among others. Since electric scooters don’t need fuel, it does not emit any harmful gas.
A study in Paris found that encouraging commuters to ride e-scooters saved the atmosphere 330 tons of carbon emissions. To further reduce its impact on the environment, e-scooter ride-sharing services are also transforming the scooters’ lifecycle from manufacturing to recharging.
Eco-friendly electric scooters are just the start of utilising electric vehicles for personal and public transport. If more people can use green tech transportation, it would reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere significantly, especially in the years to come.
Offers a greener energy source
Although the world is shifting towards renewable energy sources, 84% of the world still use fossil fuels based on a 2019 study. Unfortunately, fossil fuels are non-renewable and will soon be exhausted, so it’s important for people to switch to greener alternatives. With green tech, people can continue to harness energy from nature through solar panels, wind turbines, dams, and geothermal wells, among many others.
By using alternative energy, fossil fuels will not be depleted, greenhouse gases will lessen, and global warming will slow down. Aside from these, green tech also offers solutions such as green buildings, eco-friendly battery technology, and metallic foams. Moreover, researchers continue to develop new ways to generate energy using technology such as lithium-air batteries, fuel cells, and thermal energy collectors.
If you want to switch to an alternative energy source, here’s how to know what type of renewable energy is right for you.
Provides clean water
Although the earth is surrounded mostly by water, only 1.2 per cent of water is drinkable. As freshwater consumption increases, it’s estimated that 1.8 billion people will lack drinking water by 2025. Green technologies resolve this crisis through innovations like the SunSpring Hybrid which filters and turns dirty water into safe drinking water.
In fact, the SunSpring Hybrid can turn over 20,000 litres of dirty water from rivers or wells into drinking water per day. Moreover, this device runs on solar panels, meaning it can work in rural areas without electricity. This makes it valuable for small communities that reside near bodies of water or that have been struck by natural disasters.
Due to increased water use and climate change, lack of clean drinking water is an issue that should be addressed now, or else, it might be too late tomorrow.
Conserves wildlife
Wildlife is constantly under threat due to human activities, natural disasters, diseases, and climate change, among others. Wildlife researchers mostly use technology to study animals in the wild. For example, they use bio-logging and bio-telemetry to collect data on elusive animals’ behaviour, physiology, and more without interrupting wildlife and putting researchers in danger.
In addition, researchers use tech to educate people, especially students, through guidebooks or virtual tour guides. Marine institutions and zoological parks also use tech to promote wildlife conservation while providing meaningful animal encounters to the public.
All of these efforts to study and improve wildlife conservation will help meet conservation needs and changes. Continuous innovative technology will help combat the changes that are happening to the ecosystem.
Shift to green tech now
Ultimately, green tech enables people to reverse the negative effects of human activities on the ecosystem. Organisations, governments, and communities should make significant and continuous efforts to shift to green technologies and implement them on larger scales. In this way, more people can use green tech due to easy access, resulting in a significant impact to the environment in the long run.
https://www.greenjournal.co.uk/2021/02/why-we-need-green-technology/