Sustainability has become a popular concept amid growing awareness on the environment. Yet how to deploy technology, including security, in a sustainable manner is still a perplexing issue among users. Fundamentally, the three questions that the user should ask themselves is how the deployment can benefit people, profitability and the planet.
Sustainability has become a popular concept amid growing awareness on the environment. Yet how to deploy technology, including security, in a sustainable manner is still a perplexing issue among users. Fundamentally, the three questions that the user should ask themselves is how the deployment can benefit people, profitability and the planet.
That was the argument raised by
Axis Communications in a recent
blog post titled “Sustainable security solutions — protecting people, planet and profit.”
“More and more organizations in the security industry, whether manufacturers, integrators or security personnel, operate with sustainability in focus. Yet, despite this emphasis, many still face a similar challenge: How does one successfully develop, introduce or use technology solutions and truly comply with sustainability’s three goals (or pillars), environmental stewardship, profit and business ethics, and social responsibility,” the post said. “The answer: Don’t over think it. Simply move past the abstract to the action by rebuilding these pillars into three terms that are a bit more familiar from a business standpoint: people, planet and profit.”
To illustrate this point, Axis cited three use cases where security and other technologies were used with sustainability in mind.
Traffic incident management
In a smart city, administrators tend to use technologies to raise the quality of life for residents as they drive, park, or pay bills. These technologies may include automatic incident detection, license plate recognition and data collection, whereby magnetic sensors, induction loops and other data collection applications are used to count vehicles and provide key information about traffic density. According to the blog post, the technologies help cities meet the three objectives of sustainability. In terms of profit, drivers are warned earlier about potential road hazards — preventing potentially costly accidents. In terms of environment, transit time is reduced and a reduction in energy usage is achieved. As for people, these technologies enhance the quality of life by delivering real-time traffic updates to drivers and reducing the time of sitting in traffic.
Smart agriculture
More and more, smart farming is being deployed whereby farmers use information and communication technologies, such as sensors, geo-positioning systems, the Internet of Things, data and analytics, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS) and intelligent network cameras to make better decisions about crop management, resource usage and irrigation.
“In terms of profit, efficient use of water for specific tasks improves crop output and conserves water resources. In terms of planet, reduced critical infrastructure requirements decrease carbon footprint. In terms of people, smart agriculture contributes to shared cost-saving methods among agriculture groups in real-time and an ample food supply for the public,” the post said.
Save energy with light sensitive cameras
Finally, the blog post cited Rock Hill School District in South Carolina, which wanted to improve school safety while also reducing their overall carbon footprint in the process. While smart lighting was considered, the school district used a different approach, namely Axis’ Lightfinder technology that enables network video cameras to capture, process and send high-resolution, color images in environments with light as low as or below 0.18 lux. “When combined with analytics, cameras with Lightfinder technology can differentiate moving objects from people which require the light to operate at a higher intensity. With this, security personnel can create a ‘virtual boundary’ in areas for early warning of signs of trouble. With improved recognition, Lightfinder can help security personnel better detect everything from moving objects and facial recognition to vehicles and license plates,” the post said.
The deployment again meets the sustainability objectives. “Reduced use of lighting in specific areas results in increased energy savings. Reduced critical infrastructure requirements reduces the energy footprint. In terms of people, the savings resulting from reduced energy costs can be reinvested in student education,” the post said.