Sustainability is a core component of the smart city vision. 5G makes it possible for smart cities to harness data and technology to drive efficiency, improve productivity and transform municipalities into sustainable hubs. Wireless power contributes to this goal by reducing the excessive battery and electronic device waste associated with conventional power sources.
Sustaintalytics, an independent research firm, estimated the impact wireless power could have on the IoT over the next five to 10 years. The firm studied just three potential IoT sensor use cases that represent less than 1% of the total number of sensors expected to be deployed over the next several years. Even in that limited capacity, the positive environmental impact of switching to wireless power is projected to be significant:
· Between 41,000-83,000 kilotons of waste avoided
· 238,000-476,000 standard containers (40 feet) of battery waste eliminated
· The equivalent of 66,000-132,000 cars removed from the road
· 468-936 tons of lithium avoided
· 936M-1.87B liters of water saved (equivalent of 720 Olympic-sized pools)
· 306,500-613,000 emissions avoided (tCO2e)
Again, these are the estimated effects of wireless power over a fraction of 1% of IoT devices. Extrapolate those numbers out over wider wireless power deployment and the incredible potential of wireless power to improve sustainability comes into focus.