Tech for a Better Planet

    By

    Jun 14, 2022


    The earth is under threat. And that means we are too — as well up to 1 million of the species we share our home with.

    On June 6, Huawei, the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN), and conservation project partners explored the key role of technology in nature conservation at the Tech for a Better Planet online summit.

    Tao Jingwen, Director of the Board and Director of the Corporate Sustainable Development Committee at Huawei, addressed the summit on the innovations Huawei and its partners have developed to decarbonize industry sectors and help protect biodiversity.


    Huawei’s Tao Jingwen addresses the online summit

    As climate change and biodiversity loss increase and the digital economy continues to increase demand for energy, we need to recognize that the planet is our only home and that we must protect its limited resources together.

    Huawei is committed to continuing innovating in the areas of digitalization, intelligence, and low-carbonization, working with our partners to create business value for customers and create social value at the same time. We have integrated sustainable development into our business under four strategies: digital inclusion, security and trustworthiness, environmental protection, and harmonious ecosystem.

    Moreover, we have launched the TECH4ALL initiative. Under the environment domain of the initiative, we are committed to help conserve nature with technology.

    Digital technology: A key enabler of environmental protection

    We believe that digital technology is a key enabler of environment protection.

    Technologies can help mitigate climate change and help us achieve the world’s carbon neutrality targets. At the same time, technology can be used to protect biodiversity and ecosystems by better understanding species and their habitats.

    Accelerating the green development of industries

    Huawei has been promoting green development in different industries through innovative ICTs.

    For energy supply, we integrate power electronics and digital technologies to accelerate the development of renewable energy. In terms of energy use, we continue to improve the energy efficiency of ICT infrastructure through innovative energy-saving technologies, building green ICT infrastructure, and helping industries reduce emissions, including in the telecommunications, transportation, manufacturing, and energy sectors.

    Qinghai Clean Energy Base

    In Qinghai, Huawei helped build the world’s largest single PV power plant. By using cloud and AI technologies, the PV power plant increased energy yield by more than 2% and O&M efficiency by more than 50%, reducing carbon emissions by 2.38 million tons each year.

    At the same time, the project has also improved the local environment and economy by enabling local farmers to herd sheep under the field of solar panels while generating power on the panels.

    Watch & read the full story: How the Sun Revitalized This Landscape, Community & Economy

    HUAWEI CLOUD Gui’an Data Center

    In the HUAWEI CLOUD Gui’an data center, we use innovative technologies, such as liquid cooling, artificial intelligence, prefabricated modules, and cluster computing, to improve energy efficiency by 5% to 8% and achieve an energy efficiency ratio of 1.12, which is the industry-leading power usage effectiveness (PUE). With 1 million servers running at full capacity, carbon emissions can be reduced by 810,000 tons per year.

    The HUAWEI CLOUD Gui’an Data Center

    Digital technology is a key enabler of biodiversity conservation

    Together with our partners, we are committed to improving the efficiency and impact of nature conservation through the synergy of terminals, networks, and cloud platforms.

    Thanks to these technologies, we can better understand and conserve nature.

    On the data collection side, infrared cameras and acoustic collection devices are used to collect audio, image, and video data of a given ecosystem. On the data transmission side, data is transmitted to a data center or cloud in real time over wireless or wired networks. In terms of data storage and data analysis, technologies like cloud and AI are used to efficiently store and intelligently analyze data.

    Protecting Italy’s “Oasis” sites with cloud and AI

    In collaboration with WWF, Rainforest Connection, and other local partners, we have deployed acoustic monitoring devices in 12 protected sites in Italy that can identify sounds, such as poachers’ guns and motorbike engines, and send warnings to rangers. Currently, the project has recorded more than 300,000 audio clips and, as a result, more than 1,000 potentially illegal activities have been intercepted.

    Read more: Protecting an Oasis of Biodiversity in Italy

    Coral reef restoration in Mauritius

    Since 2020, Huawei has worked with IUCN to launch the global project Tech4Nature, with pilot projects currently running in Switzerland, Spain, China, Mexico, and Mauritius.

    In Mauritius, we deployed the first real-time underwater coral reef monitoring system in the Western Indian Ocean with our partners. Underwater cameras, an LTE network, and AI enables real-time monitoring for at least eight hours a day. So far, nearly 10,000 coral fragments grown in coral nurseries have been transplanted to degraded areas of the reef.

    Breaking the barriers and continuous innovation to build a green earth

    Climate change and biodiversity loss are common crises facing humanity. The application of technological innovations in a wide range of industries should be handled jointly by the whole of society, with no barriers.

    In recent years, we have maintained R&D intensity in various areas such as information interaction, information transmission, information processing, and storage. However,  the external environment and non-market factors still bring many difficulties and challenges to our operations. We hope and call for a more open market environment, so that our innovative technologies can be transformed into products and services that can enable us to build a green planet together.

     


    Disclaimer: Any views and/or opinions expressed in this post by individual authors or contributors are their personal views and/or opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of Huawei Technologies.

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