Mechatronic Applications in Respect of Sustainability and Climate Change

Abstract

Sustainability and climate change are closely interlinked. Tipping points in climate change that were identified some 20 years ago have now been surpassed. Dramatic change is now inevitable. The responsibility for reducing the effects of climate change now lies with the world population itself and how they press for change at the national level. Sea levels are predicted to rise by up to 3 m by 2030 irrespective of climate change mitigating actions now being considered. Widespread weather changes are also now inevitable and are in progress. New tipping points are identified and will be upon us inside the next 15 years. All these changes herald crop failures, wildfires, land erosion, more severe winds and rainfall coupled with drought in other areas. Sustainability is under attack from many directions—famine, population migration, loss of employment, disease, transport and housing. EcoMechatronics offers solutions in mitigating climate change and its onward instability profile to disaster and has a strong role to play in inhibiting and reversing climate degradation. This macro approach to micro data points delivers data on land use and soil condition, crop health plus security. On the micro side, a wide range of Internet of Things (IoT) physical sensors is now available to support the smaller granularity world that improves modern lifestyles, sustainability and environments. These new and advanced sensors support the plans to improve lifestyle sustainability and mitigate against climate change. This chapter intends to show the beneficial effects that (a) the emergence of low cost, miniaturized sensors coupled with embedded processing and artificial intelligence delivers to some of the leading topics in sustainability and climate change, (b) the engineering and chemical advancements in renewable power, power storage, mobility power and (c) the removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere by substitution or active removal.