1. MAKE HOMES AND COMMUNITIES SMARTER Smart home systems have comprehensive automation, sensing, and remote-control capabilities that provide cost and environmental benefits. Consumers, communities, and builders are buying into them at accelerating rates as seen by the rapid growth of the smart home market. For an easy action, look at smart thermostats. They can be programmed to turn on the heating or air conditioning only when you need them and turn them off when you’re not home. More advanced models can sense what’s happening in the environment—the weather, wind, etc.—and adjust themselves accordingly. 3 THINGS COMMUNITIES CAN DO NOW
2. USE ALL THE DATA INTELLIGENTLY The Internet of Things (IoT) ties everything together. Made up of sensors and smart devices that share information, the IoT is becoming an increasingly critical part of the ecosystems of homes and communities. The data that comes from it offers a vast portfolio of sustainability benefits to communities and builders. Together, sensors and software collect all the data that smart homes produce. Then, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning create models of households, buildings, or communities. These models tell us how much energy they consume and how much waste they produce.
3. CHOOSE YOUR BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY CAREFULLY Before COVID, one-fifth of the energy consumed by residential buildings was due to online activities. Back then, internet use accounted for 3.7 percent of global emissions. To put that in perspective, that’s equivalent to all the air traffic around the world in a year.
FOR AN EASY ACTION, LOOK AT SMART THERMOSTATS.
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