Call for Code to address Climate Change

Climate Change is the major threat that we have been facing for the past few decades. There have been innumerable measures taken till date to combat this phenomenon which has threatened the existence of various species including us, Human Beings. Various organizations across the globe have been researching on this and presenting their findings in the form of journal/thesis and so on. This has become an important segment on its own where various Governments across the globe have been spending billions of dollars on it. The study on climate change has seen the likes of Al-Gore, Bachendri Pal and few others winning Nobel Prize for Peace. Hence one could understand the importance attached to this. How could we connect our expertise concerning this particular aspect?

 You must be very much aware of IBM’s “Call for Code” campaign which seen over 8000+ applications involving 210,000 developers, data scientists and problem solvers from over 165+ countries creating it in the past 2 years. This shows the amount of interest developers show in this program since its main motto is to address the pressing issues of the world and to find a possible solution to address them adequately.

The recent report suggests that the depletion in the Ozone Layer is getting smaller and smaller due to the various efforts taken by the Government. This includes agreeing to cut the emission levels especially by the countries like USA, UK, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. The introduction of BS-VI vehicles is also a way of contributing to the reduction in emissions. We are more than careful than before, but these alone won’t suffice. With the advent of the Corona outbreak and the entire world going into lock-down mode, nature has found some reprieve since the emission has dropped to record levels. This has helped Mother Nature to get rejuvenated for the time being, but it will not last long since we cannot survive on lock-down for a longer period and industries have to get back to work. The companies may start working vigorously once the lock-down is lifted to cover up for the lost man-days. Hence the effect it may leave on nature may be devastating. 

There are a lot of things that could be done in this front.

1.    Scrapping old vehicles which are fuel guzzlers.

2.    Encourage to use only lead-free petrol.

3.    Energy sustainability

How could we address climate change through Energy Sustainability?

There are tried and tested methods in this aspect. All we need to do is to fine-tune them. There are companies like Tesla which is doing its best to help us combat pollution. There should be more number of such companies which should be encouraged and allowed to be set up across various countries. We, in India, are now getting into the “Self Sufficiency” position when it comes to power generation. We cannot sit on the laurels but has to see how best we could improve it further so that we can help our neighbors who are still struggling in this sector.

Most of the loss happens during transmissions and in remote areas due to theft. If these could be addressed/prevented by identifying the loopholes, this could save the Government a big money. We are moving to the next generation meters where the Government is setting up Smart Meters which is almost impenetrable and can help in ascertaining the exact consumption pattern. Through the coding campaign, revolutionary concepts similar to Bloom Energy can be created. All it needs is the application of mind coupled with idea/concept which could bring your ideas into a reality.

How to take part in the campaign by IBM?

Four steps are involved in this process.

1.    Accept the Challenge

2.    Build with Open Tech

3.    Find Your Squad

4.    Submit Your Idea.

How easy is that?

If you wanted to more about this exciting campaign where you also get a chance to win a whopping USD200,000 apart from Open Source support from The Linux Foundation, Meetings with mentors & potential investors, Solution implementation support through Code and Response™

Hurry!!

The campaign has opened and is accepting submissions. The initial submission deadline is the 27th of April. With lock-down in place, there is no better time to get your team come together to take part in this amazing campaign( most of you would be Working From Home but I am sure that you could still take some time out, get on to Video Call and get this up and running). You need not have to submit the entire project by 27th April but the prototype and you can improvise it post the timeline. The final submission deadline is 31st July, 2020. Winners will be announced by October, 2020.

Important links:

1.     Developers interested in participating as a competitor, can find all necessary information here

2.     Organisations interested in supporting as a sponsor, can find all necessary information here.

3.     Find reference materials and technical resources on the COVID-19 pandemic here.

4.     Starter kits starter kits and resources.