ICS4U project

Technology Spotlight

The Internet of Things is a network of devices that can share data between eachother over the internet. These devices (the 'Things') can be smart appliances or sensors, that collect and share data to and from the internet without human intervention.
There are many applications of the IOT:
1. Smart Homes: Smart thermostats, lights, locks, security systems
2. Healthcare: Smart watches that monitor heart rate, water intake, etc.
3. Agriculture: Mnitor soil temperature, moisture levels, and other metrics to optimize crop growth
4. Manufacturing: Monitor conditions of machinery, predict when maintenance will be necessary
5. Transportation: Traffic management systems allowing traffic to flow smoothly
6. Retail: Inventory tracking systems (smart shelves) that monitor stock levels

There are many ways that the IoT impacts the environment positively:
1. By monitoring processes more closely, IoT devices can optimize the energy efficiency of the devices they monitor, for example by telling them to enter a low-power state when it is sensed that they won't need to be used for a while.
2. IoT devices monitoring power infrastructure can balance the load better, reducing energy waste.
3. A similar situation can be found with water infrastructure, balancing the load across the many water consumers in a region.
There are also many ways that the IoT can impact the environment negatively:
1. As the IoT is comprised of many small devices, the devices can negatively impact the environment by polluting their surroundings. (ex. from battery leakage or from improper disposal)
2. Also because of that fact, the devices require precious metals to produce, which are not mined or harvested in a sustainable manner.
3. Many IoT devices connect to a central server in a data center, and those data centers use a lot of electricity and water to stay online.
There are several strategies and initiatives that promote environmentally responsible use of the IoT:
1. Using low-power processors reduces the power usage of the devices and increases battery life.
2. Writing efficient code reduces the processing power required to perform tasks, reducing overall energy use.
3. Powering the computers with green / renewable energy makes the overall system more environmentally friendly.

IoT devices constantly collect and transmit data, oftentimes with the user not knowing that said data is being collected. This means that the company that made the device could be selling your data to advertisers.
Of a similar vein, the connection the IoT device has to the central server could have dodgy security, meaning it can be hacked into by cybercriminals and data can be stolen that way.
In order to combat these problems, developers can ensure that they ask the user for consent before sending data to the central server, and ensure that the software used to communicate with the server is up-to-date with the latest security patches.

Generally, the IoT is designed to be convenient; it should automate things that should be automated. This is a very broad use case that affects many fields. For this reason, McKinsey Global Institute estimates that IoT could contribute between $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion per year to the global economy by 2025. [4]