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The Social Affect Companion Highlight collection highlights numerous nonprofit group companions which can be leveraging expertise to assist remodel the lives of people and communities. This weblog options Splunk’s partnership with OpenAQ, Radiant Earth, and WattTime, demonstrating their efforts to boost knowledge entry and digital instruments that assist knowledgeable decision-making for a more healthy planet.
Information, synthetic intelligence (AI), and digital instruments may help uncover options to advanced environmental challenges that may be carried out at scale for max influence. Nevertheless, whereas a lot of the information exists, the datasets are huge. That signifies that too typically, nonprofits, governments, and different organizations aren’t capable of entry the information in a searchable and usable manner.
In October 2024, Splunk was happy to offer strategic grants to 3 nonprofits which can be working to advance options for a sustainable planet: OpenAQ, Radiant Earth, and WattTime. Whereas every has a particular historical past and method, they share a dedication to rising knowledge entry and offering digital instruments to assist higher decision-making that can have a constructive and lasting influence on our world.
Empowering a world group to enhance air high quality
OpenAQ map with air sensor monitoring.
OpenAQ is an environmental tech nonprofit targeted on rising entry to air high quality knowledge to assist communities take motion to pursue clear air initiatives. Its story began ten years in the past when founder Christa Hasenkopf was a State Division scientist working to compile knowledge on air high quality at embassies. She rapidly realized that knowledge was both nonexistent or not brazenly out there, and when existent, it was difficult to entry and never standardized. Christa and her partner, Joe Flasher, who labored at an engineering firm that applies vitality and environmental knowledge to world challenges, knew open knowledge was essential in educating individuals on the severity of air air pollution. They envisioned a universally accessible, open-source database of air high quality knowledge, and once they couldn’t discover one, they got down to construct one.
At present, Open AQ’s open-source, open-access knowledge platform is the biggest such platform on the planet. It aggregates real-time air high quality measurements from hundreds of monitoring stations worldwide, harmonizing the information for consistency, specializing in core air pollution like PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, CO and ozone. That knowledge empowers communities to investigate and forecast air high quality, elevate consciousness among the many public, and develop options to fight air air pollution. Customers embrace scientists, journalists, authorities companies, entrepreneurs and NGOs, united by a typical objective: supporting a world the place everybody breathes wholesome air.
Making environmental knowledge available to extra individuals
Based in 2016, Radiant Earth allows data-driven resolution making to handle challenges associated to sustainability and conservation. By offering a platform and sources for accessing and using satellite tv for pc imagery and geospatial knowledge, Radiant Earth is making environmental knowledge extra accessible to assist governments, analysis establishments, and civil society organizations handle advanced world challenges.
One instance of that is their work organizing the Cloud-Native Geospatial Discussion board, which brings geospatial knowledge customers collectively from throughout authorities, trade, and academia to develop open and extra accessible strategies for working with Earth science knowledge over the Web – together with satellite tv for pc imagery, climate knowledge, and local weather fashions – which may present important insights for purposes like crop mapping, forest monitoring, and concrete planning. This method is designed particularly to empower researchers in growing international locations to entry and analyze knowledge that was beforehand solely accessible to analysis establishments with highly effective compute infrastructure.
Creating instruments that enhance vitality effectivity and scale back emissions
WattTime’s emissionality in Jap Europe.
What if three easy fixes might save 9+ gigatons of greenhouse fuel (GHG) emissions yearly: altering once we use vitality, the place we construct new clear vitality sources and which suppliers we procure from? WattTime is growing progressive data-driven options that permit people, firms, and governments to make knowledgeable vitality selections, enhancing vitality effectivity and lowering emissions.
WattTime makes use of real-time electrical energy grid knowledge to find out the emissions influence of utilizing electrical energy at any given second. Based by UC Berkeley researchers, its instruments pinpoint the emissions from turbines working to satisfy electrical energy demand, combining this data with forecasting strategies to foretell when vitality has the bottom GHG emissions. It transforms that knowledge into actionable alerts that may mechanically alter the timing of vitality use, shared with companions by means of an API.
These alerts can be utilized to optimize good gadgets like electrical autos, thermostats and water heaters to make use of electrical energy at lower-emission instances, with slight timing shifts including as much as vital reductions in emissions. Equally, it may possibly assist assess the place constructing new clear vitality sources might have the best influence on lowering energy grid emissions. That helps enhance the adoption of unpolluted vitality sources, benefiting each individuals and our planet.
To be taught extra about how organizations are harnessing the ability of expertise to drive local weather options, go to Cisco’s Local weather Grants and Investments web page.
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