Human activity in the last 100 or so years has seen a huge increase in green house gases through energy production, deforestation, manufacturing and transportation (among many others).
The effects of this climate change is being felt around the world from increased storms to issues with weather patterns for farming, higher temperatures, wetter winters, droughts….the list goes on.
And while many industries are moving to more sustainable alternatives, the advancement in drone technology is helping to offer new ways to reduce our carbon footprint.
How can drones help with climate change?
There are many ways that drones are helping in the fight against climate change. In terms of our ability to manage the developing impacts of climate change on our daily lives, asset management and scheduled maintenance are two easy examples of how they can assist us. The already documented weather variations and storms caused by climate change has seen more infrastructure and utility sites being damaged. Drones provide a vital inspection tool to ensure that these essential assets are still in safe operational use and have not been severely damaged by storms. Communication systems are a vital cog in our daily lives. Ensuring that they are functioning is a highly essential requirement that drones can assist with.
Land Management and Conservation Inspection
Understanding the ongoing effects of climate change is vital and drones can assist us with tracking and monitoring environmental issues caused by climate change. We can monitor vegetation patterns so that we can better understand how climate change is affecting crop growth for farming. Vital for food security. Crop monitoring using drones can help to maintain plant health and our LiDAR systems can help to identify optimal seeding processes while collecting data on crop fertility that can be used to assess harvesting and fertilising on UK farms.
Building Efficiency
Drones equipped with thermal cameras can conduct building inspections and roofing inspection, spotting heat loss points. By making homes more thermally efficient, we can substantially reduce our energy requirements while they still require fossil fuels such as gas boilers to power them.
Conclusion
Fighting climate change does not have a silver bullet. It requires businesses to switch to new alternatives that are renewable, the expansion of wind energy, solar power and more environmentally friendly transportation solutions.
But drones can help us with both understanding and adapting to the effects of climate change are are going to be a vital resource in our battle to reach net-zero.
