“The earth is finite, the resources in it are finite, our need for the resources is infinite”

The greatest turn of Human evolution was our ability to harness the resources of our planet to ease and improve our life. We have come a long way from crude stone tools to sending a human to the Moon.

Our ability to terraform this planet and use its resources for all our needs has become the cornerstone of the current global world we live in.

Rapid industrialization and inventions from the late 17th century to the late 20th century helped advance humanity a lot, but there were a few caveats.Thankfully, it didn’t take us long to realize that resources, and a huge chunk of them, were limited in quantity and could only be utilized till they last. And if these resources weren’t used optimally, they would not only get over but also lead to contamination of the planet we live in.

Herein rose the idea of Sustainability!
But what is sustainability?

Simply put, sustainability is the use of resources in a way that the current generation can meet their needs while making sure that the resource needs of future generations are not impaired. These resources are not only natural resources but also social and economic resources!

Everyone is talking about sustainability because of three major reasons:

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● We have one planet (till we are technologically advanced enough to colonize other planets), and the resources on this planet are limited. As Mahatma Gandhi put it,
"The world has enough for everyone's needs, but not everyone's greed" people have started understanding that their greed would only get the best out of them and lead to this world being barren and inhospitable.Those post-apocalyptic movies that we laugh about as a fragment of imagination could very well become a possibility.

●  Knowledge is power! With the connected world we are living in, where any information is available at the tips of our fingers, access to information about how our day-to-day actions impact the world has become common knowledge. And this has helped people understand that the need of the hour is opting for sustainable choices for a sustainable future!

●  New technologies adopted by corporations are also one of the reasons why people start talking about sustainability.
Let’s understand this better by taking the example of workspaces. TheSpecific Energy Consumption(SEC) of a residential building is in the range of 1-3 kWh/m2/month while that of a commercial building lies in the range of 5-25 kWh/m2/month. The energy consumption, which is 5-8 times higher, is mainly due to extensive lighting, air conditioning, and always on office equipment like servers, coffee machines, CCTV, etc. When IOTs that could help monitor and optimize electricity usage were introduced, industries were quick to incorporate them into their premises. TheseIoT-based lighting helped conserve electricity by turning off the lights in the absence of people and automatically turning them on when they detected activity. Today, these IoT-based lights and sensors have become a part of the smart-home experience. Not only do they add to the convenience of people, but they also help in conserving electricity and push us toward a sustainable future.
At 2gethr, we utilized not only IoT-based lighting solutions but also incorporated them into our HVAC. Having IoTs incorporated into the. air-conditioning means that the HVAC works dynamically throughout the day to maintain a comfortable temperature while consuming the lowest electricity possible.
The importance of creating sustainable products, leading a sustainable life, and lobbying for policies that promote sustainability not only falls on the shoulders of people, but also on the desks of companies. Companies have realized that being sustainable is not only good for the environment, and the current and future generations, but also good for them because sustainable practices are becoming more cost-effective and efficient than unsustainable practices.

Aluminium, one of the most common metals used by us, requires 95% less energy to be recycled than it is required to produce primary aluminium.

Now that we have cleared what sustainability means and the reasons whyeveryone is talking about it, we will be covering ESG (Environmental, Social, andcorporate Governance) and their importance for organizations in our next blog.

Stay tuned!

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