Clean Technology Meets Data Science: News and Articles

As we enter 2022, let’s take a look back at what happened in the clean technology and data science space during the last year. It was certainly an interesting year from a technology perspective - and not just because the pandemic upended industries all over the world!   Clean technology saw some remarkable growth during the past year. We saw the explosion in the market share of electric vehicles (EVs), significant increases in renewable energy production and use around the world, the growth of wastewater surveillance and startups and utilities focusing on water management tools, and finally with COP26, we saw climate and sustainability come to the forefront with major players asking for better monitoring and decision making tools.   As clean technology sectors grew, we also saw data science tools and technologies being deployed more frequently - not just by startups and other innovators, but also by larger companies and organizations. And data science was being used not just t...

  We are excited to partner with our friends   @generalassembly   for Data Week — a   free virtual summit May 17-21   filled with workshops and panel discussions to help you harness data to tell compelling stories and uncover trends!   Click here to check out the schedule & RSVP today!   

  It was an honor and a pleasure be interviewed by Women in Clean Technology and Sustainability (WCS) as their member of the month. WCS is a non-profit organization headquartered in California that fosters community and networking among professionals in the green economy and has members from all over the United States and the world. We had a wide ranging discussion that covered the inspiration behind Ecoformatics, the opportunities for jobs and startups at the intersection of data science and clean technology and where we as a company can help. Read excerpts of the interview below or check out the entire interview at WCS' website here ! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ECOFORMATICS IS YOUR BRAINCHILD, WHAT DOES IT DO? Ecoformatics was born out of an unmet need that I discovered while working as a data scientist and environmental engineer for several entities. The planet is facing so many challenges. At the ...

  Happy 2021 everyone! The year certainly started with a bang - if there’s one thing we can’t say - it’s that January has been a boring month.   With the change in administrations in the United States, we’ve seen several changes in climate and clean technology policy which will have significant impacts on the state of the market, startups in the field, funded research and technology developments. And this is likely to extend to the use of machine learning, AI, smart sensors and the other aspects of data science in clean technology. So, let’s take a quick look at what happened at the intersection of data science and clean technology in 2020 and what the prospects for 2021 look like.   Looking back at 2020 :     2020 of course, is the year like no other - divided between pre-pandemic and what happened as the pandemic took hold globally. So, how did that influence the trends in clean technology and the application of data science in the different sectors?   Pr...

  Wow, this has been a crazy week here in the San Francisco Bay Area! If a pandemic wasn’t enough, we now have over 300 fires burning in the area as a result of an unusual summer thunderstorm accompanied by lightning strikes.     It’s one of the aspects of climate change - that weather becomes more extreme. So, the western US and Australia as well as other areas see less precipitation, or precipitation that is unusual in amounts and timing, warmer temperatures. Thus, drier, warmer conditions that are ideal for these kind of extreme events become more prevalent - and hence, more disasters.     As professionals working in clean technology, we often get tasked with building the models for these systems, understanding what’s happening on the ground and developing new technologies to help solve these problems.     The one thing that many of us don’t really explore is the whole aspect of communicating the science and what the data are telling us.   This...

  Last week we talked about how the market in clean technology and data science   is already in the multi-billion dollar range and is headed to the multi-trillion dollar space in the next decade or so. However, one of the challenges that analysts highlighted was the lack of professionals who have sufficient expertise in both clean technology and data science. So today, let’s take a look at what’s happening in educating professionals in this exciting, new field as well as the kind of skills that are needed.   Most of the traditional college and university programs haven’t yet caught up with the demand for professionals at this intersection of specialities - although they are getting there! While many universities and colleges have created data science degrees - these usually focus on the problems that are faced by the high-tech and internet sectors. The graduates from these programs usually have a pretty solid understanding of coding, algorithms including machine learning,...

  If you were to ask people why they’re interested in applying data science in clean technology - the chances are that you’ll come across three answers. 1) They want to make a difference to the planet and help people 2) They think it’s cool technology and want to be at the forefront of innovation and 3) They’ve heard it’s a hot and upcoming field with lots of jobs and opportunities and want to get in at the ground level.   Now, one and two are both pretty obvious - but what about the third reason? Is the intersection of clean technology and data science really such a growing field?     To answer that question, let’s take a look at some numbers. Now, about five years ago, when the field was in its infancy, there was a lot of speculation about the field being anywhere from a   multi-billion dollar market to a multi-trillion dollar market . How did those estimates hold up, now as we look at what the next five years may bring?   As it turns out, the estimates h...

  The geospatial and remote sensing sector has exploded in the last five years and is poised for even more growth over the next decade. In the initial years, companies in this sector were pretty niche - with customers that were primarily in government and the military. And then, as computing power became cheaper, satellite and drone costs decreased to a fraction of what they used to cost and other uses of remote sensing and spatial data were discovered, the sector exploded with new startups entering the field and larger companies expanding their offerings.   In fact, the market in geospatial data and remote sensing is expected to double from $53 billion in 2019 to $110 -$134 billion by 2025 at an annualized growth rate of ~15%.     It’s a global market, with the United States being the largest player so far with 40% of the market, closely followed by the European Union. The rest of the world is also growing rapidly, with India, China and Argentina being the leading m...

So far, we’ve been looking at the trends in the clean technology and data science sector during the pandemic in terms of   companies’ requirements ,   startup activity and acceleration of existing trends in automation, robotics and artificial intelligence . Today, we’ll wrap up our series with a look at how jobs in this sector are holding up and the skills that are increasingly in demand.   First, how has hiring in the sector been impacted?   Like many sectors, hiring in the clean technology and data science sector has slowed as companies and organizations evaluate their status and determine what will be needed in the year ahead. Hiring in many traditional roles in organizations and companies (e.g. environmental consultants, power plant engineers, wastewater treatment scientists, city sustainability officers) has been put on pause or eliminated at this time. These companies are essential organizations and are open, but they are typically operating with a skeleton sta...