It has become exceedingly remarkable that our technology has transcended our duties which humanity should’ve been taking care of with nature itself and socially too! This world would likely have perished to the depths of its soul without it. Global warming and climate crisis are conspicuously distinguished if we take a look at the outside world. In order to prevent this issue, since humans alone are not tightly handling their responsibilities, mechanical devices were developed to reach into the problem. Additionally, they are also here to influence people's attitude and give them suggestions on how to improve themselves, for a better environment. Ever heard of solar panels? They guarantee energy efficiency and many other benefits. Let's take this forward into consideration and explore different perspectives of: “Sustainable Technology”.

As you might be asking curiously: What is sustainable technology? You might or not know about it, here is the definition. To primarily embrace deeply about this topic, it’s crucial in understanding what the concept of sustainability really means. Sustainability comes from the word sustainable, which means equilibrium. In this case, balance between nature and urbanism. Plus, according to Forbes, “Sustainability concerns practices that are sustainable, viable in the long term because they do not cause undue environmental damage”.

However, human management is lacking and their duties alone are not enough to keep the ecosystem alive for a long time. Therefore, human technology was developed to achieve a higher level of sustainability.  Claimed by SustainableJungle, “Sustainable technology is a broad term that encompasses two concepts: technology that has been designed specifically to remedy or prevent environmental issues, and technology that has been produced with sustainability in mind”. These mechanical devices tend to accomplish the idea of ecologically friendly and influence on people’s choices; in human’s daily activities, industries and companies. 

It is indeed nice that humanity has these appliance contraption devices to assist. Nevertheless, if we also don’t play our roles, it is useless. Although some people are already concerned about our damage-makings to nature, many are not. In addition, in the opinion of SSC, “If you are thinking about any grant application in the coming year, you are more than likely to see sections on economic, social and environmental impact, on your plan for Net Zero and your approach to diversity”. Promoting Net Zero and our relationship with the environment as our main petition, will lead us in preventing climate change and the emissions of Co². Might as well elevate more green areas and less pollution.

Next, now that we comprehend the concept of sustainability, let’s take a further step on technology to its way of promoting sustainability. Humanity has been creating these products for a long time, with a main objective in boosting our weak matches. Although requiring an amount of energy to work out, according to BCG, technology mechanical devices can promote the Net Zero; reducing and balancing the effects and gases from the greenhouse effect. They can also provide energy efficiency, consumption of fossil fuels, etc. Plus, “For companies willing to think broadly about how to advance their sustainability initiatives, technology can act as a major accelerant. We call this mindset “technology ecoadvantage”—using advanced technologies and ways of working to enable profitable solutions that also have a positive impact on net zero and other environmental, social, and governance goals”.

Furthermore, these technologies can immediately track real-time human activities and make provisions for reducing energy consumption. Pursuant to IBM, sustainable technologies are meant to be produced with viable processes and gears, with a main objective to “use technologies to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues”. What is more than this information, some variety of companies are trying to employ these mechanics to control their Co² production, use of fuels and raw materials. Several companies are trying to practise this activity to manage their industries, natural resources extraction, the production of toxic gases they’re responsible for, besides other details left.

In addition, there are some fun facts about sustainable technologies. Did you know that these mechanical devices can be, moreover, useful when it comes to social media? Conforming to Emerald Insight, “social media affects companies’ approach to sustainability”. Besides, it can also promote the communication between the people, mainly with sustainability related researches, publications and lead to a better sustainable performance. With its algorithm, it can attract a certain population and make them aware of our environmental damages and remind them of our duties as humans.

Despite all of the goods and beneficial elements automations proposes for us, can you now think why are we talking about this? You, reader, might be reasoning that this is just silly advertising for the use of technology. Like: Why should we care? Why is it important? In agreement with Be Informed, these mechanical devices are extremely crucial because they have a great amount of benefits to loads of aspects, such as environmental impact, social responsibility, governance integrity, decision-making and regulatory compliance. Hence, sustainable technologies are produced to reach this goal and the points cited.

Did you know that many companies abuse their scale of production of their materials for sale and are not aware of it? It’s ideal for people to have the noxiousness of their industrious fabrications. “There is an enormous amount of latent consumer demand across the developing world that will be difficult to meet without innovation”, based on the World Economic Forum. “The scale of need across these and other industries is such that the globalisation approach alone is not sufficient: new technology is urgently required”. The accumulation of carbon dioxide will increase in a colossal quantity and affect the greenhouse effect awfully. In addition, stated by EPA, along with Co² production, methane is also generated. It is said by UNEP that methane is the one responsible for more than 25% contribution to global warming, besides being possibly worse and 80 times more harmful than Co² after 20 years since it’s set.

Claiming that people are not acquainted with their manufacturing, consequently sustainable technology is also highly important due to the lack of awareness of the people out there in the world. “Among solution approaches, technology innovation is a key, as it can influence prosperity, consumption pattern, lifestyle, social relation and cultural development”, written by SN. Despite demanding energy, consumption of raw materials and manufacturing to be fabricated, it offers positive effects to the ecosystem and people’s attention. It gathers the community and shares information to let them be well alerted about their activities to maintain it  suitable, without affecting the environment. And this is all because humans alone are just not at the helm of their actions they take each day it passes.

In spite of the fact that after all we’ve said about sustainable technology and just noted its benefits, it also has its problems, unfortunately. It is important to know if it’s 100% sustainable too, as it is a doubt some people might have. Well, although sustainable robotics are crucial and useful for a better environment, it also has its negative aspects. It requires a certain quantity of materials and energy to be produced, just like other materials out there. “Technology determines, to a great extent, the demand for raw materials and energy, the ways and efficiency of manufacturing, product performance, waste reduction and waste handling, health and safety, transportation and infrastructure, etc”, correspondingly to Springer Link.

Due to the production of these technologies, an amount of raw materials needs to be extracted from nature, consumption of energy and other resources are needed to produce each of the products. According to MDPI, “The emergence of Industry 4.0 for production, and its related technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems, amongst others, have, however, a negative impact on environmental sustainability as a result of air pollution, the poor discharge of waste, and the intensive use of raw materials, information, and energy”.  In order for these mechanisms to work, it is necessary to use a great quantity of electricity. Thus, some technologies are here to try to make it balanced as much as possible, by guaranteeing energy efficiency and production.

Although sustainability comes from the word sustainable, with this objective in mind, it’s not acceptable to abuse a lot of natural materials to industrialise machinery. Hence, we should control the usage of matters and keep the equilibrium between civilization and nature. As stated by ScienceDirect, with the analyses of runtime processes of constructions and productions, it was able to observe the quantity of energy consumption of each machine. It was found that they intend to consume over 30% of the energy during the whole operation. “Using control systems that lower energy usage during a machine's idle times is therefore one of the ways to save energy”.

Nature is the reason why humanity is standing right now. We humans depend on nature so much. Without it, we would be all dead. Besides, technology is a way to go on and help us preserve nature and land us a hand in taking our responsibility together. They’re crucial, useful in uncountable situations. As claimed by University Eastern Finland, it is indeed that we are suffering a large-scale crisis, trapped inside a non-stop pain the world is paying, with the high extent of the variability of the ecosystem of Earth and climate change. Hence, sustainable technology offers us a way of different perspectives, shaping and adding proportions in the way we live in nature and its borders. “Promoting Net Zero and our relationship with the environment as our main petition, will lead us in preventing climate change and the emissions of Co²”. Take your actions correctly and make right decisions for a better place. I invite you to preserve the ecosystem and let it shine brightly.